Helva Blues

Helva Blues

One day Nasreddin Hodja felt like eating Helva. He would have made some but there was no butter, no sugar and no flour at home. The larder was empty, his stomach was empty and his pockets were empty. He was being tormented with the dream of a huge plate full of helva and he was getting hungrier and hungrier. Finally, he decided to walk down the road to the grocery store.

“Do you have flour?” he asked the grocer.

“I certainly do, Hodja Effendi.”

“Do you have sugar?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Do you have butter?”

“Yes, Hodja Effendi.”

“So, then what’s holding you back, my friend? Make yourself a good pot of helva and eat it!”

Gift Rabbit

Gift Rabbit

A few people from another village, mere acquaintances of Nasreddin Hodja, were in Aksehir for some trade business. At the end of the day, they knocked on Hodja’s door.

“Hodja Effendi, since we were in town, we thought we should pay you a little visit. And, here is a rabbit as a token of our respect for you.”

Hodja welcomed the quests as it is the Turkish tradition and asked them to stay for dinner. Hodja’s cooked the rabbit and they all made a good meal of it. A few days later, there were people at the door again. Hodja didn’t know who they were, so they had to introduce themselves.

“Nasreddin Hodja, we are the relatives of the folks who brought you the rabbit”, they explained. They were passing through Aksehir and they thought they drop by. Nasreddin Hodja and his wife opened their home to them as well. They served soup for dinner.

“It is the broth of the rabbit,” elucidated Hodja.

Another couple of days passed and there was yet another group of strangers at Hodja’s door.

“We come from the neighbor village of the people who brought you the rabbit,” they said. Hodja had no choice but to let them in. When it was dinner time, Hodja brought a large pot full of well water to the table.

“What is this, Hodja Effendi?” inquired the displeased guests.

“It is the broth of the broth of the rabbit,” Hodja snapped.

Watermelon vs Walnut

Watermelon vs Walnut

One day Nasreddin Hodja was working in his little watermelon patch. When he stopped for a break, he sat under a walnut tree and pondered.

“You Sublime Allah,” he said, “it’s your business, but why would you grow huge watermelons on weak branches of a vine, and house little walnuts on a strong and mighty tree?” and as he contemplated such, one walnut fell from the tree right onto his head.

“Great Allah,” he said as he massaged his bruised head, “now I understand why you didn’t find the watermelons suitable for the tree. I would have been killed if you had my mind.”

Question from the Bible

And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil… ”

The Bible (Genesis 3:22)

If we KNOW why do we do evil???

Proud Wind

Proud Wind

The wind put out the candle and became proud of it:

-I can put out anything now, even the sun!

A wise man heard him and made a windmill:

-This is not difficult to put out the sun, even the night can do it. Try to stop this wheel! – and he  started the wheel.

The wind was blowing non-stop but the wheel did not stop but was gaining more speed. The wise man got a lot of flour and became very rich. And the wind? It’s still blowing somewhere …

"Full student"

One man came to the teacher and asked him to teach. The teacher gave him the full cup and started to pour more water from the kettle until the liquid poured over the edge. The man exclaimed: “Teacher, you are spilling the water!!!”- “You are like this full cup,”- the teacher said, How can I fill you if you are full?