[Home] [Music] [Artists] [Mission] [Contact] [Order]
|
Khodja Nasreddin Stories |
Khodja Nasreddin* once fell seriously ill. He felt giddy and everything went dark before his eyes. He grew so weak that he made his way to the doctor with great difficulty.
"I feel awful," he said to the doctor. "Will you please examine me and tell me what's wrong?"
The doctor examined Khodja Nasreddin and said: "You're not ill; you're just hungry. Sit down, we'll have dinner and you'll be all right."
Nasreddin ate his fill, drank a lot of tea and felt fully recovered. Taking his leave, he said to the doctor: "You are quite an expert healer. You can both diagnose a disease and cure it as well. In my family, everyone suffers from this same illness, so I'd better go back home and send them all to you."
*Khodja Nasreddin is a popular folk figure in Uzbekistan as well as other parts of the Middle Eastern and Central Asia. Stories of Nasreddin embody native wit, resourcefulness, vitality and a sense of justice. The story above appears on an official Uzbek government web site at http://www.uzinfo.uzpak.uz/welcome.html.
A rendition of one traditional song dedicated to this colorful character, Song of Mulla Nasreddin, appears on Yalla's album The Beard of the Camel.
If you have other stories of Khodja Nasreddin, please send them to us by email at imagina@msn.com. We'll collect them and post them on this page.
Afandi Nasreddin had a rich mingbashi* for a neighbour. One time guests happened to come to Nasreddin's place, and he went to the mingbashi to ask for a big kazan.** Parting with the kazan, the mingbashi said: «You know, Afandi, my kazan is, well,… pregnant, and very soon now it must give birth to a child. And if it is confines and gives birth to a child successfully in your hands, then don't fail to return it with the baby, will you?»
Afandi was amuzed and saying: «Hop» he carried the kazan away. The next day Afandi returned it to the owner together with his own small kazan. Mingbashi received it with joy. In a few days Afandi came to the rich neighbour again to ask for the big kazan.
Taking Afandi for a crank, mingbashi began to hold forth about the pregnancy of his kazan again. Then Afandi said: «If it gives birth to a baby, I'll bring it.» and he carried the kazan to his place and disappeared for many long days.
Having waited for the kazan in vain, the mingbashi flew into a rage and called afandi to his presence and set upon his neighbour with the words. «Why didn't you return the kazan at the time you promised?»
Afandi answered mournfully: «Eh, taksyr, exactly as you had supposed, your kazan turned out to be in a family way. It had very hard confinement, and it died in the pain of child birth.»
On hearing this the mingbashi flew into a rage. «How can a kazan die?»
Quite seriously, Afandi replied: «You believed that a kazan could give birth to a baby. And you even received the baby from my hands. How can you do not believe in its death?»
Nasreddin Afandi had a rich mingbashi as a neighbor. On time guests happened to come to Afandi's place, and he went to the mingbashi to ask for a big kazan. Parting with a kazan, the mingbashi said: «You know, Afandi, my kazan is, well, … pregnant, and very soon it must give birth to a child. And if it is confined and gives birth to a child successfully in your hands, then don't fail to return it with a baby, will you?»
Nasreddin Afandi was amazed and saying «Hop» he carried a kazan away. Next day he returned a kazan to the owner together with his own small kazan. The mingbashi received it with joy. In a few days Nasreddin came to the rich neighbor asking for a big kazan again. Taking Afandi for a crank, mingbashi began to hold forth about the pregnancy of his kazan again. Then Afandi said: «If it gives birth to a baby, I'll bring it to you». He carried a kazan to his place and disappeared for a long time.
Having waited for a kazan in vain, the mingbashi flew into a rage and called Nasreddin to his presence and set upon his neighbor saying such words: «Why didn't you return a kazan at the time you promised?» Afandi answered mournfully. «Oh, taksyr, exactly as you supposed, your kazan turned out to be in a family way. It had a very hard confinement and died in the pain of child birth». Hearing such news made mingbashi feel furious. «How could a metal kazan die?» Nasreddin replied quite seriously. «You believed that a kazan could give birth to a baby. And you even received the baby from my hands. How can you not believe in its death?»
*A mingbashi is a high military officer.
**A kazan is large shallow cast iron pot, similar in shape to a wok, used to
cook the Uzbek national dish plov over an open fire.
Two men were quarreling outside Nasreddin's window at that night. Nasreddin got up, wrapped only blanked around himself, and ran out to try to stop the noise.
When he tried to reason with the drunks, one snatched his blanket and both ran away.
«What were they arguing about?» asked his wife when he came in.
«It must have been the blanket, when they got that, the fight broke up».
«What do they do with the old moon, when there is a new one?» a wag asked Nasreddin.
«They cut them up. Each old moon provides forty stars», he replied.
When Mulla Nasreddin heard some moving noise and realized that someone broke into his house, he became frightened and hid in a cupboard. In the process of their search, two burglars opened the lead of the cardboard and saw Nasreddin insight. «Why are you hiding from us?» asked one. «I am doing this because of shame that there is nothing in my house worthy of your attention».
Hearing someone moving about in his house, the Mulla became frightened and hid in a cupboard. In the course of their search, the two burglars opened the door and saw him cowering here. «What are you hiding from us?» asked one.
«I am hiding from shame that there is nothing in this house worthy of your attention».
Nasreddin Afandi got broken and decided to make some money. He found small stones, came to the market place and laid stones out on the ground.
«What do you sell, Nasreddin?» a buyer asked him.
«I sell the cure from mice».
«And what should I do with it?»
«Oh, it is really simple. You should catch a mouse, poke one stone in its mouth and strike the head on the ground. A mouse would be dead immediately.»
«I see. But if I caught a mouse and just struck its head on the ground without putting a stone in the mouth, then what would happen?»
«It would die also», Nasreddin answered.
![[home]](../images/globe.gif){kind=small} URL: http://ip1.com/imagina email: imagina@msn.com © copyright 1995-2008 Imagina Productions / IP1 Imagina and IP1 are registered trademarks of IP1 Corporation. |
|
| revised: 21 Dec 2006 |