by Nasreddin Hodja (translated by George Borrow) · 1884
Classics
Short, funny stories about Nasreddin Hodja, the wise fool of Turkish and Middle Eastern folklore, translated by the English writer George Borrow.
Content note: Written in the nineteenth century, some jokes are crude or reflect attitudes toward women and other peoples that are outdated today.
The Turkish Jester
Transcribed from the 1924 Norwich edition, Vol. 16, Miscellanies, by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
THE TURKISH JESTER; OR, THE PLEASANTRIES OF COGIA NASR EDDIN EFENDI.
TRANSLATED FROM THE TURKISH BY GEORGE BORROW.
IPSWICH: W. WEBBER, DIAL LANE, 1884.
THE PLEASANTRIES OF COGIA NASR EDDIN EFENDI
‘A breeze, which pleasant stories bears, Relicks of long departed years.’
The story goes, one of the stories of a hundred, that Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi one day ascending into the pulpit to preach, said, ‘O believers, do ye not know what I am going to say to you?’ The congregation answered, ‘Dear Cogia Efendi, we do not know.’ Then said the Cogia, ‘What shall I say to you until you do know?’ One day the Cogia ascending again into the pulpit, said, ‘O Mussulmen, do ye not know what I am going to say to you?’ ‘We do know,’ they replied. Then said the Cogia, ‘Some of ye do know already, what should I have to say to you?’ Then descending from the chair he went out. The assembly separated quite astonished, and, when they were out, continued to say, ‘Which are those of us who know?
