Hodja - the Turkish Trickster

Collection of Tales

Description

Well-known folk stories

Sujets

• Islam
• Turkey
• Turquía

Informations

• Publié par: Read Zone
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783228683
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

NASREDDIN HODJA Tales of the Turkish Trickster

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© copyright in this edition ReadZone Books 2015 © copyright in text ReadZone Books 2015 © copyright in illustrations Thompson Digital 2009

Originally published in the Netherlands as Verhalen van Nasreddin Hodja © 2009 Uitgeverij Eenvoudig Communiceren, Amsterdam

The right of the Author to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by the Author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Printed in Malta by Melita Press

Every attempt has been made by the Publisher to secure appropriate permissions for material reproduced in this book. If there has been any oversight we will be happy to rectify the situation in future editions or reprints. Written submissions should be made to the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (CIP) is available for this title.

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ISBN 978-1-78322-868-3

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NASREDDIN HODJA Tales of the Turkish Trickster

Contents

1. The Moon 2. The Punishment 3. Problems 4. The Hodja 5. The Holy Tomb 6. The Priests 7. The Sermon 8. Rain 9. Rich 10. The Wife 11. The Soup 12. The Thief 13. The Lesson 14. The Donkey 15. The Candle 16. The Future 17. The Pan 18. The Law 19. The Secret 20. The End 21. The Last Laugh 22. The Rescue

Introduction

Nasreddin Hodja came from Turkey, from the village of Aksehir. He lived there hundreds of years ago, in the 13th century. The Hodja was a holy man. He had his own mosque, where he preached a sermon almost every week.

Hodja is written ‘hoça’ in Turkish. Hoça is the word for teacher. That’s precisely what the Hodja was: a teacher. But he was an unusual teacher. The Hodja liked to answer questions with questions. To solve problems, he often caused more problems, and along the way he made lots of jokes. In fact, the Hodja is famous as much for being a trickster as for being a holy man!

Many stories are told about Nasreddin Hodja, not only in Turkey but in other countries in the Middle East. These old folktales sometimes seem strange today. We see the things the Hodja does in a different way. He and the other characters can appear unkind or dishonest to modern-day eyes.

For example, the Hodja is horrible to his wife. People in the stories, including the Hodja, can die suddenly. But of course, life was harder hundreds of years ago. People had to accept sudden death and other harsh things. They also saw these tales as lessons.