A few people from another village, mere acquaintances of Nasreddin Hoca, were in Aksehir for some trade business. At the end of the day, they knocked on Hoca's door.
`Hoca Effendiz, since we were in town, we thought we should pay you a little visit. And, here is a rabbit as a token of our respect for you.'
Hoca welcomed the guests as is the Turkish tradition and asked them to stay for dinner. Hoca's wife cooked the rabbit and they all made a good meal of it. A few days later, there were people at the door again. Hoca didn't know who they were, so they had to introduce themselves.
`Nasreddin Hoca, we are the relatives of the folks who brought you the rabbit.' they explained. They were passing through Aksehir and they thought they drop by. Nasreddin Hoca and his wife opened their home to them as well. They served soup for dinner.
`It is the broth of the rabbit.' elucidated Hoca.
Another couple of days passed and there was yet another group of strangers at Hoca's door.
`We come from the neighbour village of the people who brought you the rabbit.' they said. Hoca had no choice but to let them in. When it was dinner time, Hodja brought a large pot full of well water to the table.
`What is this, Hoca Effendiz?' inquired the displeased guests.
`It is the broth of the broth of the rabbit.' Hoca snapped.
This amusing story is one of many passed on in Turkish culture centered around a wise man named Nasreddin Hoca, Hoca being a sort of title of wisdom in Turkish. Nasreddin is a very well known character based on a Sufi who may have lived during the 13th century. The stories he is included in are focused around day-to-day life within Turkey and the customs and interactions of people around him. They notably begin with a ordinary situation, then leading to some sort of objectionable, odd or quirky situation in which Nasreddin generally delivers the final word, a punchline that is not only humorous but doubles as a moral.
The history of the real Nasreddin is fabled to have started around the early 13th century in Central Anatolia. Moving to Aksehir in his twenties, he trained to become a Kadi, or a Muslim judge, and lived to be almost eighty years old. He was supposedly a philosopher with a sharp sense of humor and a wise aura. Nasreddin is not only a figure of Turkish culture: he can be found in several cultures, all under the name Nasreddin, across Central Asia and Central Europe, as well as in China, Italy, and Greece. However, anthropologists and other experts agree that Nasreddin was probably of Turkic origin. His stories are issued not only as fun tales that can be traded quickly due to their short length and general simplicity, but also can be great perpetuators of morality. Sometimes, Nasreddin can be seen making very profound commentary on the manner in which Islam is practiced. For example, this story, in which Nasreddin is a mullah, or revered Islamic scholar:
A neighbour came to the gate of Mulla Nasreddin's yard. The Mulla went to meet him outside.
"Would you mind, Mulla," the neighbour asked, "lending me your donkey today? I have some goods to transport to the next town."
The Mulla didn't feel inclined to lend out the animal to that particular man, however. So, not to seem rude, he answered: "I'm sorry, but I've already lent him to somebody else."
All of a sudden the donkey could be heard braying loudly behind the wall of the yard.
"But Mulla," the neighbour exclaimed. "I can hear it behind that wall!"
"Who do you believe," the Mulla replied indignantly. "The donkey or your Mulla?"
This joke very obviously questions the amount of trust one puts into a mullah when they are simply human and can lie and be selfish just like any other man. Many Nasreddin stories do not deal with culturally-selective topics, however; this is why the character is so universally appealing and can be transferred from Turkish to Chinese to Italian.
Nasreddin stories can be traded at dinners, in public transportation, and pretty much anywhere that one Turk can find another. They have become a very deeply ingrained part of Turkish culture, and Nasreddin is a character whose name is truly commonplace in Turkish society, despite the years that have passed from his death to his stories being told.
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