The patrons were upset, and some offered Nasrudin to catch the
impudent brat and teach him a lesson, but Nasrudin kept his cool,
saying that it doesn't work this way. The boy, encouraged by
Nasrudin's inaction, kept knocking his hat off. One day Nasrudin was
approaching the cafe with a friend, one of those who tried to
convince him to punish the brat, when the boy appeared. The usual
place of Nasrudin was occupied by a fearsome looking king's soldier.
Out of habit, the boy ran up to him and knocked his hat off...
Induldging in a bit of deconstruction: If the boy had been stopped and
corrected earlier, he would have lived. Doing nothing generates karma,
as well.