The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-28
TALES OF TURKEY.
The Garlic That Would Always Smell.
How BE Achieved a Competence.
From the New York Press

From the New York Press.
Constantinople, Jan. 1.-The tales I have
written to you about the Hodja, the quaint
philosopher who furnishes fun for almost
all of Turkeys literature, are no better
than the two which l have just dis
covered and hasten to repeat. Here they
are:
The hodia had garden which afforded
him few vegetables and a little fruit
every year, and he always planted a few
garlics, of which he was very fond. He
could make good meal of black bread
and garlic, but his wife abominates the
odor. A friend knowing this told
him to peel the garlics before
he planted them. and that the
new ones would not smell badly. He did
50, and that crop was as offensive as the
others. The man in answer to Nar-Has-
tri-Hodia's complaint, said that he had
forgotten to say that they should have
been planted upside down. The Hodia
did this, and the vegetable turned out, if
anything, more rank than before Again
he complained, and the man suddenly re-
membered that they were also to be
planted at exactly midnight. They were
peeled, turned upside down and planted
at exactly midnight, but were stronger
that ever. Then the philosopher set to
thinking, and when his waggish friend
| asked him how his garlics turned out, he
! answered:
MY friend, what Allah does is well
| done, and he does not change his laws. 1t
| took me three years to find it out. You
can peel, turn upside down and plant in
darkness, but what he orders to stink
will stink, and neither you nor can l
| change it,"
1t seems from the chronicles in the life
| of this good old man that to relieve the
pangs of hunger, he fell from grace one
| time, enough to crawl down his neigh
boris chimney to capture string of
onions, which he knew hung near it; but
somehow he slipped and fell and over
| turned all the tin pans in the house, as
| well as hurting himself badly all over,
| besides breaking a leg. The owner of the
house hearing the clatUer rushed to the
kitchen, but could see nothing, and he
began to call his wife to hurry with
| light
Don't hurry her nor yourself" calmly
! said the hodja in the dark. From the
manner in which | came down the Chin
ney :, ou might know would not 90 away
soon, so let her take her time"
At last the fame of the worthy philoso-
! pher reached the ears of the reigning sui
tan and he sent for him. as he felt that he
| should learn wisdom from such a wise
| and good man, and the Hodja passed sew
eral days in the august presence, sitting
on mat or divan placed on the floor be-
fore the sultan They smoked their pipes
and talked in manner beftting the mon
arch of all the Mussulmans and the poor,
| but contented, man of learning At the
close of the old mans visit the sultan
asked what reward he could give him.
Your benefcent majesty" he replied,
II would like to ask my wife first"
And why SOL"
''Well, you see, whatever l ask she will
find fault with; but if let her choose for
herself, why, then, she cannot complain
afterward."
"You, philosopher and man of learn
ing, afraid of your wife!"
Everybody is afraid of his wife. Stay
Your majesty, | have an idea. Grant me
this Let me go through your whole do
minions, and let proclamation be made
that every man who is afraid of his wife
shall give me penny. That is all ask. "
The sultan agreed, and away went the
philosopher, and he was absent year,
and when he returned he had long
string of donkeys laden with money He
took it home, and after storing it safely
went to pay his respects to the sultan,
who received him kindly, and was sur
prised and amused at the relation of the
hodia's adventures. The hodja then
said:
"And while I was abroad / found a
veritable treasure, which 1 bought for
present for your Glorious Majesty. A
surprisingly beautiful young"
The Sultan hastily checked the utter
ance of the word girl" and pointed to-
wards curtain which was moving sus-
piciously making a sign of silence The
Hodia had observed this before and now
he held out his hand, saying:
"Your Most Glorious Majesty, please
give me my penny. You are the only
married man in your dominions who has
not given his penny, and now find you
as much afraid of your wife as any of the
rest
The sultan gave in, as he ought to, and
the story tells that the good hodja passed
his declining years in peace and comfort,
teaching his little congregation and the
youth all they could learn of his gentle
and worthy philosophy and religion. But
he mas left the language of that country
a royal dover in quaint sayings and apt
little anecdotes, to each of which can be
tackled a very edifying moral. These are
but few of them and not by any means
the best, but the wit of them is either too
fine and subtle to translate into English, |
or their very droll but rather too broad
character renders them not exactly suited
to reproduction. But IL is needless to say
that they are all characterized by the
same unctuous humor and sly wit, and
they form really collection worth read
ing as illustrative Of the literature of the
country.