In the April/May 2012 issue of Storytelling World magazine: the announcement of the Honor given to Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, and the front cover art at the top of the page!
Thanks to Ann Shapiro from the Connecticut Storytelling Center for sending a copy of the magazine!
Immortal Mullah Nasruddin wins 2nd national storytelling book award
Mullah be praised! The Lethe Press book, “The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin,” was one of 13 distinguished titles to receive the 11th annual Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award. Three cheers for Steve Berman, who took a chance on a book that was way outside his publishing program.
Here’s the description of the book from the awards ceremony program:
Wise fools are favorites of storytellers and story listeners alike … and no wonder! They allow us to laugh and learn at the same time. Ron J. Suresha collected several hundred stories of the Persian folk hero Nasruddin, from short jokes and anecdotes to longer, fully-fledged tales. He presents them gathered traditionally in groups of seven — seven parts with seven sections each containing seven stories. Well-researched and well-written, this collection is a delight for listeners and tellers alike.
Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Awards 2013 recipients:
Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award
Thanks to everyone present, Awards co-chair Carol Birch, White Plains Public Library, and judges of the Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award.
May I take a moment to acknowledge my publisher, Steve Berman, of Lethe Press, who took a chance on this book, which was very outside their publishing program, even after several major Eastern wisdom and storytelling publishers turned it down. I also want to acknowledge my husband, Rocco, who has supported me in every way during my efforts but could not be here today; Ann Shapiro, Executive Director, Connecticut Storytelling Center and everyone at CSC who has offered their amazing resources; and my friend David Juhren, Executive Director of the Loft LGBT Center in White Plains, who’s here today.
That my book, The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, is now honored with the Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award, is a tribute for which I am deeply grateful.
Early on, I became well acquainted with the likes of the famous wise fool Mullah Nasruddin, a jokester character of renowned humor and inscrutable wisdom from halfway around the world in the Near and Middle East (also known as Nasreddin Hoca, Djuha, Abu Nuwas, and by other names).
As a child I listened to my mother, an Israeli American who spoke conversational Arabic, recount a few of the droll follies and foibles of the bald, bewhiskered, bumbling Mullah. Threads of his countless fables, anecdotes, and parables, based in Turkish and Persian folk wisdom, were woven into the first stories and jokes that I learned. “You’re acting just like Nasruddin,” my mom would exclaim, exasperated by my contrariness.
Nasruddin was acting up in class one day and insulted his teacher. His teacher Halil berated him, saying, “Nasruddin. How dare you address me this way! Why do you always answer a question with another question‽”
Said Nasruddin, with a smile, “Do I‽”
Sometime after college, I became involved in a yoga community and lived at several ashrams (residential yoga centers) primarily around the United States, as well as two stays at an Indian ashram, where I learned many more Nasruddin tales. These droll stories were included in daily formal lectures by our teachers to illuminate, often with comedic effect, the uncommon foolishness and occasional common sense of human nature.
In 1997, while working as production editor at Shambhala Publications in Boston, I presented a formal proposal for a pocket edition of Nasruddin stories culled from the hundreds of stories in the Shah volumes, but Octagon Press declined the query. From that initial proposal I developed this project, my own contemporary retelling of the Nasruddin corpus.
Over the past 20 years, I have collected and indexed several thousand versions of more than one thousand stories and parables, anecdotes and aphorisms, and jests and jokes of my longtime teacher and friend, Mullah Nasruddin, in his many incarnations in various cultures around the globe. My retellings are based on personal recollection of oral narratives as well as dozens of published sources in English, Spanish, German, French, Turkish, and Hebrew.
Excluding a few longer narratives that incorporate shorter bits, the stories in the book are presented seven at a sitting, as per the oral tradition of Nasruddin’s “curse.”
Once, when the boy was being particularly bad in class, his teacher Halil said:
Wherever you go or stay,
whatever you do or say,
whether it be night or day —
people will only laugh and laugh at you.
Gathered into seven parts having seven sections, each section containing seven stories (73 = 343), the selections comprise the most popular, amusing, meaningful, and compelling ones repeated among my sources. My goals have been to craft fresh, strong, clear presentations of the folklore, to incorporate the best aspects of each known variation, and to adapt the narrative material to contemporary readership.
The stories are arranged into a rough biography, starting with Nasruddin’s childhood and moving through characteristic life passages: his youth and schooling, his married and family life, travels and travails with his devoted grey donkey, the daily labor of his many vocations, encounters with his village neighbors and teahouse chums, his exploits as a favorite in Sultan Tamerlane’s court, his duties and acts as local magistrate and religious teacher, and his old age and death. One of my favorite stories goes like this:
In the little Turkish town of Akshehir where he lived, the immortal folk hero Mullah Nasruddin was a tribal elder and mullah, or learned minister, of his town. As such, every Friday Nasruddin was expected to give the sermon before the true believers, to expound upon the mystic life and other religious matters of import.
Usually he was prepared with a topic, but one Friday morning, however, even as he walked up the stairs to assume his position addressing the congregation, nothing came to mind.
The first time this happened, Nasruddin tried to buy some time. He called forth in a loud, confident voice, “Oh true believers, mark my words, for I am a prophet and the son of a prophet.”
The worshipers sat staring at Nasruddin in slack-jawed disbelief at this apparent infidel.
Someone said, “Nasruddin, if you are the son of a prophet, tell us: what am I thinking right now?”
“I know precisely what you’re thinking right now.” Nasruddin stroked his long grey beard, rubbed his temples with his index fingers, then he cleared his throat. “I can tell . . . that you are thinking . . . that I am a false prophet.”
Then, as he stood before the assembly, an idea flashed in Nasruddin’s brain. Assuming a fierce stance, Nasruddin announced in a strong and severe voice, “O true believers! Do you know the topic about which I have come to speak to you‽”
Puzzled glances were exchanged, and then the people answered in a hushed yet yearning whisper, “No, we don’t understand, not at all, we haven’t a clue.”
Nasruddin looked disparagingly at the congregation. “If you have zero idea of the value of the message you are about to receive, then what is the worth of anything that I could tell you?” And with that, he dismounted the pulpit and exited the mosque, free for the time being. That week, Nasruddin’s cryptic sermon was the talk of the village.
That Friday, again Nasruddin found himself about to address the expectant flock with nothing to say. Taking the pulpit, he announced in an even more fiery tone, “O true believers! I have come here today, to speak to you about a most significant and dire matter. Do you have any knowledge of the subject which I am addressing?”
This time, the group, as one person, rose and responded, “Yes, we do know.”
Nasruddin replied, “Oh, so now you all think you know everything that needs to be understood about the subject, do you? If it’s so obvious, then why should I waste my breath explaining to you what apparently is so apparent?” And he stepped lightly down the seven steps from the pulpit.
All that week everyone in town was abuzz with this latest development. Every man, woman, child, and donkey in Aksehir was debating the matter, and as the week stretched toward the Sabbath sermon once again, the anticipation swelled to immense proportions.
When Friday came around, as it inevitably does, once again Nasruddin found himself without a subject for his sermon. He slowly ascended the pulpit, then proclaimed in a furious roar that made every person in the mosque tremble with the fear of God, “O true believers! Do you know the topic about which I have come to speak to you today?”
As the group had agreed beforehand, half stood up and said, “Yes, we know,” while the other half remained seated and said, “No, we don’t.”
Every head in the room leaned forward to hear the next utterance of the inscrutable Mullah Nasruddin.
“The people assembled here who do understand the matter — and you know who you are! — should teach those who don’t get it.”
And with that, he climbed down the pulpit and looking neither left nor right, neither up nor down, neither outward nor outward, stepped out of the mosque, free and clear — until the next Friday, at least.
This Nasruddin folk tale is sometimes referred to as the story of the learned and the ignorant. This story seems particularly appropriate for this event, as I consider librarians and booksellers and storytellers and editors and writers the learned who are compelled to share their knowledge with the community for others’ benefit.
Many of the numerous anecdotes attributed to Nasruddin reveal a sly, humorous personality with a sharp tongue that spared no one, not even the most tyrannical sultan of his time. The Mullah’s interactions with the despot Tamerlane particularly display an intuitive intelligence shrewd enough to outwit anyone. Thus Nasruddin became the symbol of Middle-Eastern satirical comedy and the rebellious feelings of people against the dynasties that once ruled that area of the world. Here’s a story that embodies that feeling of rebellion, as well as appeals to my sensibilities as an editor.
During Tamerlane’s reign, citizens were banned from carrying any sort of weapon or knife.
One day Luqman, the town constable, stopped Nasruddin on the street and searched him because he thought the Mullah was acting “suspiciously.” Hidden under his turban was a big curved knife.
Luqman shouted at Nasruddin, “Fool, don’t you know that the sultan has forbidden the use of knives‽”
“But I use that to scrape off mistakes and make corrections in the books I read,” Nasruddin protested. In those days, small penknives were used to correct errors in books.
“Is that so‽” said the captain. “Well then, why do you need such a big knife?”
“Because they are large books and there are lots of huge mistakes. Sometimes the errors are so egregious that even this enormous knife isn’t big enough to handle them.”
It is true that by opening the listener’s heart with laughter, the tales create a space for both joy and mystic wisdom to enter. The topper of his teacher’s “curse” imposes the condition that at least seven Nasruddin tales must be told aloud at one sitting. This is done to allow the listener enough time to relax and perceive the humor even in the most pressing situation. Thus paradox, unexpectedness, and unconventional wisdom are fully expressed in the irrepressible good humor and inspirational humanity of the immortal Mullah Nasruddin.
I am currently completing a sequel to Mullah Nasruddin, which will include all the PG-13 material I didn’t include in this volume in order to keep the text reading level at a general college adult readership. It’s an ambitious project, and so I’d like to leave you with one last story about longing and ambition, and one that happens to be appropriate for Father’s Day.
Nasruddin’s father was the head of a large dargah, the burial shrine of a great being, where many seekers, dervishes, and pilgrims would go to worship. Nasruddin used to listen to the pilgrims’ tales of their search for God, and it inspired him to strike out on his own in search of the Truth. His father, Yousef, begged him to stay and help him take care of the temple, but Nasruddin insisted that he had to find his own way to God. Finally Yousef relented, and gave him a little grey donkey to ride as a sort of blessing.
For years Nasruddin wandered from forest to forest, shrine to shrine, and mosque to mosque, until one day at a remote crossroads, his devoted little grey donkey collapsed and died. Nasruddin was inconsolable in the loss of his dear companion. He rolled on the ground, rent his garment, beat his chest, tore out what little hair was left on his balding head, and wailed, “Vai! Vai! My faithful friend and constant companion has died and left me forever!”
As Nasruddin lay there weeping in the dirt at the crossroads, some pious people traveling on pilgrimage saw him in his grief. They took pity upon him and placed leaves and branches over the dead little grey donkey. Others covered it with mud. Someone brought a wooden box to protect the mound from the weather.
Nasruddin just sat there, brooding and silent, staring at the box.
Some charitable folks who lived in a small village nearby passed by the site and, thinking that Nasruddin was the bereaved devotee worshipping at the tomb of a great saint, painted the coffin white out of respect for the Master and his disciple.
Soon the burial site became a regular place of prayer for certain religious persons in the region, who often left heartfelt offerings of flowers, fruit, and incense. One local devotee passed his fez around and collected enough to enclose the box in a marble sarcophagus. Then another eager follower of the anonymous great being within the tomb built an altar before the tomb, and others enclosed the tomb and altar inside a temple, and before long many other true believers began to worship at the shrine of the unknown saint. The local priests were attracted to the new memorial, and of course, soon enough the incense vendors, fruit sellers, and florists heard of the place and set up businesses nearby to sell offerings to hundreds of seekers, dervishes, and pilgrims who came to worship.
Nasruddin by now was very busy running the shrine and had forgotten his sorrow. News spread far and wide that if a person prayed devoutly at the site, his or her prayers would be answered. The shrine drew larger and larger crowds of worshipers, who were all to glad to offer contributions, and from these funds a huge mosque was built. Soon the mosque became quite wealthy and famous, and several hundred people lived in the town that sprang up around it.
Eventually the news of the dargah reached Nasruddin’s village. When his pious father heard of it, he went on pilgrimage to see the great mosque. When Yousef arrived and beheld that it was indeed his own son as the famous mullah of the new holy land, he was overjoyed. He embraced his long-lost child and said, “I’m so pleased at your success, considering the family of failures you’re descended from. But tell me, my son, I am most curious to know — who is the great being buried here in this tomb?”
“O my unjustly proud father, what can I tell you‽” Nasruddin wept into Yousef’s arms. “The truth is: this is the dargah of the little grey donkey you gave me!”
“How peculiar and wonderful,” said Yousef, embracing his son, “that is exactly how it happened in my life. My shrine is that of a donkey that my father gave to me!”
~ ~ ~
My website is ronsuresha.com and the site for the book is mullahnasruddin.com.
Thanks very much for coming and listening so beautifully, and thank you for this award.
Notice of the Anne Izard Award for Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, New Milford (CT) Spectrum
+
New Milford author to receive Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award
A collection of Turkish folktales by New Milford author Ron Suresha has been named a recipient of the 2013 Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award. The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, published by Lethe Press in 2010, received last year the Storytelling World Honor Title award and is now designated to be honored with a second prestigious storytelling commendation.
According to the Awards co-chair Carol Birch, a ceremony of stories and storytelling, including a presentation by Suresha, will be held 10:00am Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at the White Plains Public Library, 100 Martine Ave., White Plains, New York. The morning program is open to the public with a local bookstore supplying books and an area for authors to sign their titles.
Every two years, an (Augusta) Baker’s Dozen (13) of titles are chosen for the ANNE IZARD STORYTELLERS’ CHOICE AWARD that was established in 1990 to honor Anne Izard, noted storyteller, librarian and consultant, who had died that same year. The award was established in her name by the Westchester County Library System (New York), where she served as the Children’s Services Consultant for many years. The award highlights distinguished titles in the field of storytelling published for children and adults, and promotes the riches of storytelling to even wider audiences. Books considered for the 11th award had to be original material, reprints, or new English translations published in North America between January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012.
Selection Criteria:
While mindful of the established standards of excellence in literature, the primary intention of this award is to honor books that can be used with confidence as resources for storytellers.
Stories must be entirely successful without depending upon illustrations, graphic elements, or audio-visual media. Collections, as well as individual picture book versions of stories, will be considered. Folk tales should be distinguished by an outstanding style, which makes the particular version notable. Authenticity, scholarship, and documentation will be taken into consideration, but are not the sole criteria. Distinguished examples of original stories should preserve, promote and/or honor an oral tradition. Non-fiction narratives, including poetry and biography, will be considered. Books which deepen and enrich a storyteller’s understanding of the meaning and uses of story, as well as books pertaining to folk traditions, aesthetics, methods and study of storytelling are eligible.
Here is the complete list of this year’s Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award recipients:
Suresha, a native of Detroit, Mich., moved with his husband from New London, Conn., to New Milford in 2011, and is a licensed Justice of the Peace. An award-winning author or editor of a dozen books, Suresha is currently completing a sequel to his acclaimed collection of Turkish folk tales of the legendary Mid- and Far-Eastern hero and teacher, Mullah Nasruddin (also known as Nasreddin Hoca, Djuha, and by other names), forthcoming 2013 from Lethe Press, an indie publisher based in Maple Shade, N.J.
Order the book from Lethe Press
Mullah Nasruddin doll from the Tokcapi Palace Museum
inspects scholar P.N. Boratov’s collection of his stories in Turkish.
Nasruddin was fed up with Karakacan, his ill-tempered donkey, and decided to sell the beast at the market. So the next Wednesday, he took her to the donkey bazaar.
Nasruddin found Musa, the livestock auctioneer, and handed over the donkey, then stood around and looked at some other donkeys. Then he spoke with some of the donkey traders about their animals. When Nasruddin’s donkey was led up to the stand, Nasruddin was left standing in the back and couldn’t see over the heads of the men in front.
The auctioneer shouted grandly, “And here’s a magnificent beast of burden! It’s a superb, unequalled, fabulous donkey. Who will start the bidding at five gold pieces?”
“Just five, huh,” thought Nasruddin, and as the auctioneer sang the praises of the donkey, he was impressed and raised his hand to start the bidding. Immediately a shill of the auctioneer pretending to be a farmer bid eight gold pieces, and as the auctioneer exaggerated at great length the donkey’s many fine qualities, a short bidding tussle began, finally going to Nasruddin.
Nasruddin’s new donkey would cost him twenty gold pieces, far more than the worth of his old one.
So Nasruddin as the buyer paid the auctioneer twenty, and the auctioneer handed over the tether to the donkey, took his one-third commission, counted out thirteen gold pieces back to Nasruddin as the seller, thanked him for his business, praised him as a upright businessman, and left.
Nasruddin beamed with pride as he returned from the bazaar with his new prize, a donkey of the highest quality. He had to keep tugging the donkey, who, as stubborn as ever, resisted being led back. Nasruddin didn’t mind at all. He could think only of all the fine words the auctioneer used to describe the animal.
All the way home, proudly dragging his donkey behind him, Nasruddin thought, I never miss a bargain.
[conclusion with Fatima tomorrow]
Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero
Your Daily Nasruddin It’s not advantageous to be short, unless you’re in front.
Perceiving your own shortness is completely relative to your perception of others’ height.
Don’t buy anything you can’t see.
Lethe Press is pleased to announce the release of the second printing, March 2012, of
Features of the second printing:
Order the book now from Queerbooks.com
Lethe Press
118 Heritage Ave., Maple Shade, NJ 08052 USA
http://www.lethepressbooks.com
February 25, 2012
+
Lethe Press is pleased to announce that one of its books, The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin, by Ron J. Suresha, has been chosen as an Honor Book in the Storytelling Collections category of the 2012 Storytelling World Awards.
The folk humor collection detailing the exploits of the 800-year-old Turkish “wise fool,” published last year by indy publisher Lethe Press of Maple Shade, NJ, was chosen as “A Storytelling World Honor Book” in the annual national refereed competition for valued resources in the “Storytelling Collections — All ages” category.
The winners and honors for each year’s Awards are displayed on the back cover of the April/May issue of Storytelling World / Storytelling Magazine, or are showcased inside the issue by categories. The resource title, author (performer), and publisher are provided, along with a short byline describing the item. The book cover and information are also published permanently on the Storytelling World website, http://www.storytellingworld.com.
Here is the Storytelling World official announcement.
The author, Ron J. Suresha, and Lethe Press publisher, Steve Berman, wish to thank award administrator Dr Flora Joy and the Storytelling World award committee judges for recognizing the book for its contribution to the storytelling community as a special folkloric resource.
The official announcement about all of this year’s award titles is expected to be was made public in March. Lethe is expected to reprint the title this year to include mention of the new honor.
The book, with a preface by Connecticut Storytelling Center director Ann Shapiro, has already received critical acclaim from Midwest Book Review, which called it “A fine pick and very highly recommended”; an extensive analysis in the scholastic journal Storytelling, Self, Society, and a positive review from the popular Green Man Review.
The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin
Stories, jests, and donkey tales of the beloved Persian folk hero
by Ron J. Suresha
Lethe Press, January 2011 • Paperback: 232 pp. • Includes glossary and bibliography
ISBN-10: 1-59021-175-8 • ISBN-13: 978-1-59021-175-5 • Softcover price: $18.00 USD
Categories: Humor / Folklore / World Literature / Middle Eastern Studies
Distributed by: ASP, Baker & Taylor, Ingram
Also available for Kindle, iBook, and all electronic-book formats @ Smashwords.com. For more information, and to order, go to
http://www.MullahNasruddin.com or http://www.LethePressBooks.com
Editorial and Distribution Inquiries, Press Inquiries/Review copies:
Steve Berman, publisher: editor @ lethepressbooks.com
part 2
Nasruddin stroked his beard, as he did whenever he had some hard and fast thinking to do. Then he spoke, “Oh sure — but it’s too bad that the donkey bazaar is not held today. We will have to wait until Wednesday. At that time I will sell for a single dinar my donkey to the one of you that I think will make the best master.”
So for the next week Abdul and Mali went to great pains to demonstrate to Nasruddin how kind and generous they were to all the town’s animals. Abdul made a point of throwing handfuls of feed to birds while Nasruddin was looking, and Mali made a great show of brushing his many fine dogs and parading them about, and both men groomed and festooned and treated their own donkeys like royalty.
Come the day of the donkey bazaar, Mali and Abdul were anxious as to whether they each had impressed Nasruddin enough to make him sell his beloved donkey at such a bargain. The two men waited outside with everyone who also came to see the outcome.
Soon enough, a faint sound of donkey hooves could be heard approaching. After some time, the buyers realized they heard another noise, not so familiar, the sound of a somewhat displeased cat. They waited as the sound grew louder, until around the corner came the Mullah leading Karakacan by a tether, just as he had promised. Nobody expected to see, however, that tied to the tail of the donkey — was Nasruddin’s tawny cat.
Once everyone had gathered around this spectacle, Nasruddin announced, “I indeed am willing to sell my beloved donkey for one dinar. But my donkey and my cat — I mean, the donkey’s cat — are such good friends, it would be cruel to separate them. Whoever buys my donkey must also purchase her dearest feline companion.”
It only took two seconds for the would-be buyers to say, “How much for the cat?” in unison, reaching into their moneybags to grab another dinar or two.
“Oh, this is a very distinguished cat,” Nasruddin replied, gesturing to the distressed feline, which tried batting at the red ribbon tethering it securely to a big knot in the donkey’s tail. “Its past is exotic and fascinating. I know for a certain fact that her great-grandfather lived in the King’s palace. And that was from just this precious cat’s third life — still six more lives left.
“So,” Nasruddin continued, “as much as I hate to part with my dear kit— I mean, the donkey’s dear feline friend, the price of the cat is quite reasonable, considering her regal pedigree: one thousand dinars.”
Mali and Abdul looked at each other, and broke into wide grins, and everyone laughed. They hugged Nasruddin and slapped each other on the back and all were glad, because everyone knows that a man and his ass should never be parted.
Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero
Your Daily Nasruddin Second, concluding part of a long Nasruddin story.
Turkey’s national currency is currently not the dinar. Nor is it the Euro: it is now the New Turkish Lira. The dinar is still used by many countries including Iraq, Tunis, Azerbaijan, Yugoslavia, and Sudan.
Although some Nasruddin stories portray cruelty to animals, this one demonstrates the Mullah’s uncommon love of his critters.
Because of a long drought followed by a protracted winter, Nasruddin had to ration the barley he fed his donkey.
So Nasruddin decided to teach the donkey to eat less. He put the donkey on a diet and started feeding it just a little bit less barley every day.
At first, the donkey seemed just as content with what it was offered, so Nasruddin continued gradually reducing the number and amount of the donkey’s meals. The donkey was quieter than usual and moved slower, but to Nasruddin the animal seemed fairly content.
After several months of this diet, however, one day Nasruddin walked into the stable to find that the donkey died.
Nasruddin, desperately sorry, lamented to Fatima, “Such a pity. All the donkey needed was just a little more time and the poor beast would have gotten used to hunger. Sadly, she didn’t live long enough.”
Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero
Your Daily Nasruddin This story is told with the Mullah expressing varying amounts of sadness and regret. Some versions portray him as sad and shocked at his little grey donkey’s demise. In others versions Nasruddin seems to act quite carefree and nonchalant about the matter.
Of course Nasruddin would have never considered the consequences if Fatima put him on a similar diet and rationed his food.
Bear Bones Books is pleased to announce the pending release of the redesigned edition of The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, jests, and donkey tales of the beloved Persian folk hero, collected & retold by Ron J. Suresha.
“The author’s roundup is exhaustive, perhaps one of the most honest of all English collections that have been published as popular Mullah Nasruddin literature.”
Nasreddin Hoca ordered a new shirt from Hussein the tailor, and when it was ready, he went to the tailor’s shop to pick it up.
After Nasreddin paid for the shirt, he decided to shop for some new pants. He chose a nice pair of baggy pants and tried them on, and the two bargained and agreed on a price.
Bear Bones Books announces the publication of a new collection of the most popular Nasreddin Hoca folk tales and jokes, in multiple formats on several platforms available everywhere. 100+ Favourite Tales of Nasreddin Hoca Favourite Tales of Nasreddin Hoca Favorite Stories of Mullah Nasruddin Treasured, oft-told stories of the famous funny folk hero by Ron[…]
Young Nasruddin was passing a vineyard and was very thirsty, so he jumped the fence and began to pull down and gobble the luscious grapes. But Bekri, the owner, spotted him and yelled…
The three men bought the mat and the other two bought the blanket.
Nasruddin stretched out in the center of the mat and promptly fell asleep.
Both of Ron J. Suresha’s acclaimed Mullah Nasruddin story collections are now available in hardcover!
Estas dos aclamadas colecciones de historias de Nasruddin ahora están disponibles en español. Both acclaimed collections of Nasruddin stories are now available in Spanish from Bear Bones Books / Babelcube. ~ El sentido poco común del inmortal mulá Nasrudín Historias, bromas y cuentos de burros del querido héroe popular persa por Ron J. Suresha Traducido[…]
100+ Favourite Tales of Nasreddin Hoca: Treasured, oft-told stories of the famous funny folk hero Collected and retold by Ron J. Suresha Published by Bear Bones Books. ~Now available from Barnes & Noble! Get the softcover edition here. Get the digital edition here. ~Nasreddin Hoca, the eight-centuries-old “wise fool” character originating from Turkey and the[…]
Announcing the new Revised Edition of the acclaimed authentic story collection! Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin Order the book now from Amazon here. Order the ebook from Amazon Kindle here. HONORS ~ Lambda Literary Awards, Finalist ~ Rainbow Book Awards, Honorable Mention ~ This acclaimed folklore collection details the escapades and exploits of the beloved 800-year-old[…]
You on the Inside, Me on the Outside
You on the Inside, Me on the Outside
Excerpted from The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero
Fatima gave her gold bracelet to the yoghurt-seller in order to cheat him out of an ounce more yoghurt? What sort of bargain is that?
And Nasruddin heartily approves!