The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-24
TURKISH WIT AND WISDOM
OrientalS Who Are Ingenious In
Thought and Expression.
Letter Writing a Fine Art - Sam
pies of Turkish Tales and Turk
ish Ta1k-Far Eastern Jokes.
From the New York Press.

ISM Ia1A-E at eastern Jokes
From the New York Press.
Constantinople, Nov. 25.-The turks are
. jolly race in a way and have a wit and
wisdom of their own.
The common conversation among Turks
is marked by flowery eloquence and i'm
agery which is worthy of study at least,
and their letters are remarkable for their
ingenuity of expression. 1 quote here
two extracts which are fair, though not
examples. The first was an invitation to
9 jolly good fellowship in a raki party for
that evening. Raki, be it known being
the fiery drink which is so much liked by
all Orientals. 1t tastes like mixture of
turpentine, alcohol, paregoric and essence
of pepper. 1t excites ravenous appetite
and looks like absinthe when poured into
water. / do not know whether it is par
ticularly injurious or not, but should
Judge that from its acrid, fiery nature it
would absolutely burn the whole of ones
internal economy to cinder. The letter
runs:
''My noble and venerated friend. this
evening when the silvery bark of the
moon, which is now fourteen days old,
shall begin to sail over the blue surface
of heaven, spreading affair its influence of
tenderness and love, we shall be united
at the village of Roumeli-Hissar in the
spot called Hoyatti-Millah, place full of
delights, and all night long until the re-
appearance of Aurora, we will taste of
the pleasures afforded by the dry water
and the 'moistened fire. (brandy and
raki.) We will make no excuse for the
hardness, even If no longer than the
thickness of a hair. Let the strength of
sails and oars hasten your arrival, which
will be a source of the liveliest delight for
your friends The following is the
formula for an invitation to dinner:
my gracious masterl My respected
lordl This evening, if it pleases, God,
when the great king of the army of stars,
the sun of worlds, vending his way
toward the kingdom of shadows, puts his
foot in the stirrup of swiftnesS, you are
begged to brighten our faces with the
brilliance of the rays from yours, which
rivals the sun for brightness. Your ar
rival, like the spring zephyr, will dissi-
pate all our somber darkness and lonely
solitude" Very different is this far
eastern invitation from one from the far
west, where note says briefly: "Come
to hash"
The same authority which gives those
letters as correct also says that an etfendi
who speaks to another always says, when
meaning himself, Your servant, your
valet, or your slave" and saws to the per-
son he addresses, "Your high. YOUR emf
nent personality" He would never say,
II saw you at the theater," but, 81 saw
the dust of your feet at the theater yes
terday"
The servants and lower class people al
ways address those who appear to be in a
better position. financially. than them
selves as ''Chilihee,r if man, or "Ha-
&c m ruhiah
ter" and ''ladyb
The use of fiowery language is so habit
bitual that after very short residence
in Turkey one becomes so accustomed to
it that it seems very proper thing, and
IL would be missed if not used. The ped
oilers who come to your house with bun
die of Americana or unbleached muslin to
sell will tell you that it is as strong as
iron, steel and copper, and that it will
wear as long as the sun shines or the
moon rolls. The man who offers silk for
sale will tell you that the worms which
spun this silk were Matched in paradise
and the silk was bleached by the tears
of houris who wept because they
could not wear it, and if you
wonderful tales about everything they
have to sell. 1t is not possible for a for
eigner to over rival the Orientals in this
fowery language, for there is a SAVIOR and
quality about it that no other people can
initiate, and an underlying wit and wis
dom which makes their whole intercourse
a constant source of intrigue, admiration
and keen enjoyment, no matter if it is
but your wood seller. 1 remember one
day young lady friend was acting the
part of an interpreter for me while was
trying to buy chebkee of wood. She
knew the old man and that he had had
various matrimonial difficulties, and to
tease him she asked him how he got along
with his last wife.
''Ah, hanum ~ he said; 'tGod is great
and his laws are immutable. How shall
l speak of my vife2 If a man spits into
the air it falls back upon his head. If he
spits downward it falls upon his beard,
and l should defilemyself if did either :"
And he walked off.
There are many poems which ara
learned by heart and taught orally tomany
of the women of different harems, as well
as to professional story tellers and what
we would call elocutionists, though the
audiences are rarely over eight or ten
persons. These poems are mostly excit-
ing love stories about impossible heroes
and beautiful women and are very dra-
matte, as is proved by the emotion dis.
played by the hearers. OF course l can
give no idea as to the value of the poetry
other than to say that it sounds both
metrical and musical. When women re-
cite these long poems they sound exceed
lpgly sweet, even to these who know moth
ing of their language, as the Turkish
women have very rich and pleasing
voices, which generally are rather low,
unless when they are holding discussions
with each other on some exciting topic.
There is kind of Mother Goose litera-
ture taught only to children, which in
sound is surprisingly like our own. One
little verse, which is half sung and half
chanted, tells the child that a little
brown bird comes to perch. He alights
first on babys cheeks, then his chin, then
on his head and finally sits down on
baby's nose and bites it. All this sounds
exactly like four and twenty blackbirds
Girls names are usually given to repre-
sent a poetical idea, boys, noble and
heroic or splendid. One little girl is the
lily loved by the moon Another is the
rose of whom the nightingale is amorous.
Among some of the very apt proverbs
which are used by the Turks to point a
moral and adorn tale are the following
II you wish to have your clothes
Always hang them on your nose.
And this is good advice. They also have
proverb which tells you that one pis-
tache nut in your mouth is better than
Ten in another mans pocket.
Solomon, in all his glory, is quoted on