Nasreddin Hodja(Hoca)-1
May 28, 2009
Hello Erina, Manu and everyone who reads,
Nasreddin Hoca is an important cultural icon and a legendary satirical figure in Turkey. He was a philosopher, wise, witty man with a good sense of humour lived during the Middle Ages.
Nasr-ed-Din means ‘victory of faint’, Hodja means the ‘master’ or ‘teacher’.
Between July 5-10 of each year, the International Nasreddin Hodja Festival takes place in Akşehir where his tomb is.
1996-1997 was also declared International Nesreddin year by UNESCO.
He sometimes does foolish things, sometimes acts weird but always comes to a wise and funny conclusion that both makes you smile and think There is always at least a moral hidden in the short stories or anecdotes to get.
Here is a few well-known stories from him:
Riding the donkey backwards
One day Nasreddin Hodja got on his donkey the wrong way, facing towards the back.
- ‘Hodja’ the people said, ‘you are sitting on your donkey backwards!’
- ‘No’, he replied. ‘It’s not that I am sitting on the donkey backwards, the donkeys facing the wrong way. ’
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harikalar_Diyari_Nasrettin_Hoca_05981_nevit.jpg
Eat, My Coat, Eat
The Hodja was invited to a banquet. Not wanting to be pretentious, he wore his everyday clothes, only to discover that everyone ignored him, including the host. So he went back home and put on his fanciest coat, and then returned to the banquet. Now he was greeted cordially by everyone and invited to sit down and eat and drink.
When the soup was served to him he dunked the sleeve of his coat into the bowl and said, “Eat, my coat, eat!”
The startled host asked the Hodja to explain his strange behavior.
“When I arrived here wearing my other clothes,” explained the Hodja, “no one offered me anything to eat or drink. But when I returned wearing this fine coat, I was immediately offered the best of everything, so I can only assume that it was the coat and not myself who was invited to your banquet.” 
Innocent Thief
Hoja’s donkey was stolen. Instead of consoling, his neighbours were blaming him saying,
‘You should have tied the donkey securely!’
‘Didn’t you hear any noises!’
‘You should have locked the shed!’
Hodja listened patiently for a while and finally said,
”Well, you are putting all the blame on me…Do you think the thief was innocent”
That’s all for now!
May you be in the pink of health as well as being full of the joys of spring,
To be continued…. 
Demet
