I had the upper hand

You can make a fool of yourself to let people feel how pathetic they are. Sadly, the least clever will still not understand. Humour calls for intelligence, do not waste it. This reminds me of a story:

Peace had finally broken out in Anatolia, so the hay market tea house in Aksehir was once again the setting for much bragging about military exploits. Listening to the group, you would have thought yourself to be in the company of legendary heroes, chosen by the miraculous decree of Allah, to survive and tell their tale.

Abdul the hamal gave an account of the fearless way in which he, with incredible force, precipitated a huge block of stone from a hill, smashing to pieces no less than three chagatay archers.

Yusuf the barber slashed the air with his fuming chibook to show how he cut a vicious Arab into two equal halves.

Mahmud the fat milkman shook the backgammon tavla illustrating how he used to strangle his enemies, two at a time.

After a while, Nasreddin grew tired and intervened.

“I had the upper hand in an encounter with ten of Timur’s fiercest soldiers.”

“Who will believe you Hoça? How did you do such a thing? You are no warrior.”

“I will tell you the whole story. I was quietly walking in the fields minding my own business.”

Here Hodja stopped for a moment as overcome with the emotion of memory. Then he sighed and continued,

“Suddenly, no less than ten fierce soldiers, of Timur’s own body guard, emerged from a bush and charged towards me, sword in hand. I ran for my life but they caught me. I uttered my last prayer…”

“And then?” asked Yusuf, impatient.

“Oh, then..? One of them recognised me as the fool who amused the Emir. They apologised for the mistake and escorted me back to the royal camp. So that I had the last word in that matter.”