Nasruddin (1208–1285) is part real dude part folk character. He appears in thousands of stories across Southwest and Central Asia, North Africa, and beyond. Depending on who you ask and what mood they are in, he is a genius or a fool. I think of him as an ancestral cousin of Spongebob, from a time in history when people still had the sense to heartily embrace gluten and roasted meats.

a sample:

The Sermon

Once Nasreddin was invited to deliver a sermon. When he had gone up into the pulpit, he asked, Do you know what I am going to say? The audience replied "no", so he announced, I have no desire to speak to people who don't even know what I will be talking about! and left.

The people felt embarrassed and called him back again the next day. This time, when he asked the same question, the people replied yes. So Nasreddin said, Well, since you already know what I am going to say, I won't waste any more of your time! and left.

Now the people were really perplexed. They decided to try one more time and once again invited the Mullah to speak the following week. Once again he asked the same question – Do you know what I am going to say? Now the people were prepared and so half of them answered "yes" while the other half replied "no". So Nasreddin said Let the half who know what I am going to say tell it to the half who don't, and left.