The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-04-16
A Turkish Jest Book.
GFrom the Nineteenth Century

As n specimen Of Turkish humor may be
taken the pleasantries OF the Hodia (teacher
and prcachcrl Nasr-Eddin. This reverend
wag has been called the Turkish Eulenspie-
gel, but in Eulcnspiegcl there are no traces
OF the simplicity and even stupidity which
are combined in NaSr-Eddin's case with
wit and humor, and which render him the
counterpart rather of the German Clause
Narr. According to some accounts he
was Baiazet's court jester. At all events
he seems to have been contemporary
OF Tamerlanc, and his burial-place
IS pointed out in Ak-Shehr, the town in
which the defeated Ottoman Sultan was Sc
cludcd by his Mongol conqueror after the
battle OF Angora, in 1402. Some writers,
however, are incredulous as TO his exist
! cnce in the flesh, at least as the author OF
the Jokes which are current rs his, but
which probably have been fathercd upon
him, as many OF our own merry lests !"
have been attributed TO L possibly humor-
| less Joe Miller. There are one hundred
and twenty-five anecdotes in the book, and
they arc told in Il very curt and plain
spoken manner. Many OF them are OF the
nature of our Gotham stories, or OF
the skitS current among Us on Irish
men. Thus, on one occasion, having
been told by his wife that coldneSs in the
cxtremites is Il sign of death, and finding
his own hands and feet numbed by frost, the
Hodja thought he was dead, and lay down at
the foot of Il tree. Up came wolves and ate
up his ass. "It's luck for you," cried the
PROSTATE Hodia, "that the ass's owner is
dead" One night he shot out of window
at what he thought WAS a robber, but il
turned out next morning to be his own caftan
-, in, ni,-i trth hot
an arrow had pierced it. "Thanks, . Lord"
he cried, 'that was not it, for other
wise / must have been killed." Another
night, seeing the moon reelected in we'll, he
thought it had tumbled in, so he lowered q
bucket to pull it out. The rope getting en-
tangled, he pulled so hard that he broke it,
and fell backwards. When he came to after
the shock he saw that the moon was all
right in the sky. "God be praised and
! thanked" quoth he; "Ive hurt myself,
but at all events the moon is put back In
| her place" Another set Of anecdotes il.
| lustrate the Hodia'S cleverneSs instead OF
! his stupidity. lie was twice asked by pco.
pie who wished to puzzle him what be.
came OF the old moons. On one occa
SION he replied that they were minced into
stars, on the other that they were sliced into
lightnings. His opinions are shared by
many peoples. In the island OF Syt, for in
stance, it is believed that old maids will be
employed in the next world to cut up ole
moons into stars. A peasant once present
ed the Hodja with hare, which was turned
into soup. Next week the peasant called
and was Hospitality treated. A few day:
later came several neighbors Of the mar
who had given the hare, and they also re
ceived meal. But when some fresh yisi
| l,s bns itn1f
ground that they were neigbbors OF tht
man who had given the hare, all they
got from IIodja was cup OF watel
apiece, together with the information
! that it was 1.-the sauce of the sauce O.
the harc.' Some of the jokes will be recog
nized us very old friends, attributed to al
manner OF alien sources. We lind th(
Hodja, as preacher, telling onc-half OF hi:
congregation, who said they knew what hi
was going to tell them, to Instruct the othel
half. who said they did not. We see him.
in domestic life, locking up his axe, anc
explaining to his wife, who always laid the
| blame on the cat when the dainties disap
peared, that hc was afraid the cat would eat
| it. And we hear him cry to his pupil in {
VOLTS hole who wants to know what is
going OH, when the wolf is trying to gel
| in, and the Hodja is holding it back by it:
tail "If the VOLTS tail breaks you'll soor
| find it OUT The well-known story OF the
one-legged fowl also appears under this
historical form. The Hodia once cooked
goose, and set off to present it to Tam
erlane. But before he reached that mon
arch he was so hungry that he ate one OF 1T
legs. When the fowl was presented, Tam
erlane complained OF its one-leggedness
" All geese are one-legged," asserted thu
IIodia, and he pointed to flock of geese
beside "a spring, each standing on one leg
Thereupon Tamerlane ordered drum to bt
beaten. which startled the geese into bipeds
According to our versions Of the story
the HeGja should have told Tamerlane tha
he ought to have had drum beaten be-
| fore the cooked goose. In the Turkish
| variant the final repdrtee is $50 might
you be made to 90 on all fours "-an allU
sion to the force Of the stick, the drum
being beaten thereby. a few OF the stories
| are less familiar, turning on points Whlct
are peculiar to Mohammedan lands. Here
is one, for instance, which is characteristic,
though not oyer-eXhilaratiDg- Arriving
one evening at -Hissar, just at the mo-
ment when the long fast OF the Ramazan
had ex TireG and all the world Has gazing
with rapture at the new moon. which was
bringing with it the feast Of the Bairam,
the Hedia eNpresSed his wonder at the
sight. I'm our town." quoth he, ono
body pays the slightest attention to the
moon. even when it is Us big as wheel,
but here everybody comes out to see ii
even when it is us thin as 4 toothpiek.9