Once, the people of the city invited Mulla
Nasruddin to deliver a speech. When he got
on the minbar (pulpit), he found the
audience was not very enthusiastic, so 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 he 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
Mullah Nasruddin said, "Well, since you
already know what I am going to say, I
won't waste any more of your time" and he
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
Mullah Nasruddin said "The half who know
what I am going to say, tell it to the other
half" and he left!