A peasant was chopping timber in the woods. Another peasant was watching him; comfortably seated on a fallen tree trunk.
The man cutting the timber was using a heavy axe suitable for the thick timber he was chopping. With both hands, he was lifting his axe above his head, and then inflicting it with great exertion onto the wood.
Every time he swung his axe, the peasant watching him was letting out a loud grunt. That way the chopper chopped and the grunter grunted until all the timber was cut. When his job was done, the peasant cutting the timber started to gather the wood pieces into sacks, and load them onto his mule to take home. That was when the other peasant who was watching and providing the audio effects asked for his fee.
`Why should I pay you when you haven't done anything?' said the peasant who was chopping the woods.
`Well,' the other explained, `I grunted for you, didn't I?'
The wood chopper didn't agree that the grunt deserved any money and the discussion grew nasty.
The two men decided to take their dispute to the judge who, at the time, happened to be Nasaruddin Hodja.
Hodja listened to both sides, then asked the wood chopper to give him his purse. He took the coins out of the purse and dropped them one at a time on his desk. The coins tinkled and clinked onto the wood desk.
`Did you hear the sound of the coins jingling?' he asked the grunter.
`Yes, Hodja Effendi, I did.' he replied.
`Then you have received your rightful payment.' The Hodja said. `You supplied the sound and you got paid in sound.'
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