Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-10-06

Turkish hodjah, or teacher, who was
the butt Of the wit Of his age. Nasr-
,Iddin, the name which his grave
stone at Konia, in Asia Minor, still
bears, is n of the most familiar in
Ottoman history. The Turk of every
rank in life, whether a street porter,
or a member Of the sultan's palace
staff, or a prisoner in the secluded
harem, whites away leisure hours by
exchanging hodjah stories; the mere
mention of the name of Nasr-Iddin
produces a smile, which is invariably
followed by an anecdote and ringing
laughter. A few of the hundreds OF
the stories which are in circulation
are appended.
THE CAT AND THE LIVER.
The hodjah was very fond of fried
liver, but whenever he carried any OF
it home his wife, who was equally
fond of 1t, cooked it and ate it during
her husbands absence. One evening
just after the hodjah had purchased
three pounds of liver his wife ate it
as usual, and placed some ordinary
food before him.
See here, wife, where is the liver?'
he asked, angrily.
"The cat ate it," was the wife's re-
reply.
The hodjah Immediately took the
balances, and placing the cat in one
pan and the weights in the other
found that the cat weighed just three
pounds, the same as the liver which
he had brought home. He stood
lthoughtfully looking at the cat for a
moment, and then said:
IF this is the cat, where is the liver;
or il this is the liver. where is the
cat?'
THE HODJAH's CALENDAR.
The sacred month of Ramazan diff.
lfers from the other months Of the
Mohammedan year, for then all Mos
lens are required to fast. The hod-
jah found it difficult to keep account
of the days of the month, and so when
Ramazan came he set up an earthen
pot and threw into it a stone each
day, that he might know when the
period of fasting would be over.
One day the hodjah's daughter saw
him throwing a stone into the pot,
and a little later as she was playing
about she threw in several handfuls of
stones. 1t happened that on the same
day a neighbor asked the hodjah how
many days of the month had passed.
"Wait a minute" said the hodjah,
i"and l will tell you exactly"
He went to the pot, and counting
the stones in it, found 165.
THAT is too many" he meditated.
at will never do to give such a num-
ber."
| After a moments reflection he re-.
turned to his neighbor and replied:
'~'Ninety-fve."
'Effendi, how can there be 95 days
in a month";"
II am sorry" replied the hodjah. 81
made the number as small as possible,
but If you wish to believe the pot,
to-day is the one hundred and sixty.
fifth of the month"
THE HARE.
The hodjah while hunting one day
caught a hare, but as 1t was the first
ludJ uc udu CNCi oCOh hO 4 AOb hnOW
what kind of an animal it was.
IL will take this strange thing home
and show it to the people," he medi.
tated aloud. Somebody may know
Putting the hare into the bag, he
fastened the opening securely and
started for home.
ar Lo.o ocUt,roJ -,owSo.Af -.
Vmal," excitedly cried the hodjah to his
wife as he entered the house. 1T
is here in this bag. but don't touch
it. I am going to ask the neighbors
to come and examine it: perhaps some
of them may know what it is"
The hodjah had hardly left the house
when his wife, overcome with curl
osity to know what the animal was
like, opened the bag. The hare i'm
mediately sprang out and escaped.
She tried to ~recapture it, but the
animal darted between her feet and
ran out of the house. The frightened
wife, picking up a grain measure. the
nearest thing at hand, put it into the
bag and bound it up.
III Tue ulcdHLlluc LuC uOuJdh a IL
Ivited the judge, the mayor and the
other chief officials of the city to CONT
and inspect the wonderful animal
They all came. AS they gathered
about the hodjah requested them all
Ito sit in a circle, and with hands
raised ready to seize the animal should
lit attempt to escape, while he himself
stood in the center, holding the bag.
Again cautioning them mo- to let the
animal escape, he opened the bag and
shook it. The peck measure fell out
upon the floor. The hodjah was toe
astonished to speak. The people said:
ut takes four of them to make .
Ibushel."
Ia THE JUSTICE OF ALLAH.
Some boys brought a bag OF u
to the hodjah and asked him to divide
them Just as equally as Allah would.
Very well" replied the hodjah.
To one boy he gave a single nut
A. ~-otlo. - lorJFuI onI 60 kha third