The Turkish Jester

Hodja Nasreddin Efendi may or may not haved lived in fourteenth century Anatolia.

"Hodja" means "teacher", and the man himself was probably an imam or a Sufi priest. If he was not a real person, it has been necessary to invent him, and his wit, charm and drollery are known throughout the Islamic world and further afield.

George Borrow's translation selects the best Hodja tales from the hundreds which exist and are still told in tea-houses, bus-stations, schools and homes today.