One afternoon, Nasreddin visited the local teahouse and found it crowded with people listening to the stories of some soldiers who had just returned from the war. Nasreddin also listened eagerly to the soldiers' tales of glory and valor.
"Standing in the front lines," one soldier boasted, "I used my bow and arrow to slay ten of the enemy in just as many minutes."
"With my scimitar," another soldier boasted, "I slew over twenty of the enemy in less than hour."
"Ah," Nasreddin sighed, "that makes me remember my days as a soldier."
Everyone turned to look at him in surprise since they thought of Nasreddin as a rather cowardly fellow. "Tell us more, Nasreddin," they prompted.
"Well," he said, "there was the time I severed the leg of an enemy soldier, cutting it clean through with my sword."
The captain of the soldiers remarked, "Surely, my good man, it would have been even more glorious to have cut off his head!"
"That was not an option," Nasreddin replied, "since someone else had done that already."
