“If you are looking for a friend who is faultless, you will be friendless.”

There was a young man who had a group of friends who were not very good. They took him in a direction which was not pleasing to his father. Finally one day his father said to him, “Look, my son, get rid of your friends. I’m going to teach you the meaning of friendship.”

The son obeyed and abandoned his friends. His father took him to the back of the house, and there he killed a sheep. He slit the throat of the sheep, took its bloody carcass, and he put it into a huge sack. One could see bloodstains soaking through the canvas cloth.

“Now my son,” he said, “You know Ahmet who lives down the road. We’re the best of friends, as you know. Go and bring this sack to him, and tell him that your father accidentally killed someone. And ask him to help dispose the body.”

The young man took the sack, and carried it down the road to Ahmet’s house. He knocked, and Ahmet opened the door. “I’m the son of Habib,” the young man announced. “There’s been a terrible accident. My father has killed someone. The body is in this sack. My father asks that you help him dispose of this body, please!” “Wait a minute,” Ahmet said, and went back into his house.

Soon he returned with a sack filled with gold coins. Handing them over, he said, “Here take this to your father. With this money he will surely be able to get someone to dispose of this body.” The son went back to his father and told him the story. His father said, “My son, this is half a friend.” Then he continued, “Now take this sack and tell the same story to Hussein who lives on the other side of town. You remember him, we were once very good friends. But lately we’ve disagreed on a lot of things, and actually in the last several months we haven’t even spoken to each other. But take it to him.”

He took the sack, walked across town, and knocked on Hussein’s door. When the door opened, the young man said, “I’m the son of Habib. There’s been a terrible accident. My father killed someone. The body is in this sack. He asked if you could please help him dispose of the body.” Hussein looked at the boy, grabbed the sack, and pushing him away, said, “Tell your father I’m not interested in him. And you, get out of here. Don’t ever tell anyone you’ve seen me!” He slammed the door shut, but he kept the bloody sack. The young man went home. He told his father the story of what had happened with Hussein. His father smiled and said, “That my son, is a friend.”