nasredin.blogspot.com


True, there is no new thing under the sun. But there is no old story either. For a newborn, each tale known so well in the past is entirely new. And so it is for a new reader. This is, I believe, what makes telling and re-telling stories like the ones of Nasreddin Hodja - or Hoca or the Mullah - worth an endless effort. This and yet another hope I have: stories, these strange undying creatures, so easily lost or forgotten, come alive every time they are told. It seems that they feed on a small flame coming from the storyteller's life as it goes by. I found myself, most of my working years, in the role of a teacher. Not teaching wisdom or consulting or psychology - which were my subjects - but teaching people, serving the people who wanted to learn. Mindsize. That is, explaining and giving the advice in such forms that busy people are prepared to accept and understand and, maybe, even apply. This is how I discovered, after so many other people, the power contained in good stories, metaphor and meaningful images. I used and use these all the time. They became part of my self. There are good reasons to use stories: On one hand, the examples make adults learn like children and the unquestioned common places of stories cause people to accept the learning without resistance to the newness they bring. On the other hand, the paradoxes of fable and wit create newness in the mind. This is vital for the spread of personal knowledge and of culture, from grand parents to children, adults to adults and nations to nations. The choice of stories accumulating (slowly) on this web page is for the grand children I wish I would see one day. I decided to share the growing content of the chest with other grand children too, and even with their parents if they happen to care. There are many wonderful stories in the world and I re-told, adapted and used many, from East and West. I had to choose what to write down first, in my own words, free from other people's copyrights. The collection I present here is the never-ending saga of Nasreddin or Nasrudin Hodja known also as the Hoca or the Mullah. As you will find in many sources, Hoca was born in many countries of the East and his mule was loaded with many hundreds of stories of many disparate kinds. People imagined the Nasrudin that fitted their needs and pleasure. There are wise Sufi-flavoured Mullahs that teach us and stupid mullahs that make us feel clever. There are bold subversive Hodjas ridiculing unjust power and fanaticism and, if one likes so, sheepish little Hodjas ready to sell their soul (like my dog, Tao) for a plate of mouton. Some people even enjoy the paedophile Hoca, the scatological Hoca, or the evil, idiotic, “Beavis & Butthead”–like Nasrudin. You will find those collector items in “complete” scientific anthologies but certainly not here. We have the right to select.

(c) Copyright 1998-2004 Ioan Tenner