HOW MANY STARS are in the sky? Where is the center of the world? These are questions that people have asked since they first looked at the earth and the sky.
One day an imam came to AkÅŸehir in Turkey and asked these same questions. The villagers rushed to find their wise man, Hodja Nasreddin, to give the imam learned answers.
“There are as many stars in the sky as there are hairs on my donkey,” said Hodja with authority, “and the center of the world is where my donkey puts its front feet.” He smiled fondly at his donkey.
“Harumphhhh!” replied the imam, disturbed that Hodja had reduced these universal questions to answers the size of his own stable yard. “Then how many hairs are in my beard?”
“That’s easy,” said Hodja. “The very same number as in my donkey’s tail.”
“Prove it!” replied the imam in a stony voice.
“I can easily do that,” Hodja said. “I’ll pull one hair from my donkey’s tail for every hair I pull from your beard. If there are hairs left on your chin or on the donkey’s tail, then you will know that I am wrong.”
The imam held on to his beard and “harumphhhhed” his way out of town.
THIS IS ONE of hundreds of wise and funny tales told about Hodja Nasreddin to children in Turkey and other countries. The real Hodja was born in 1208 in Hortu village. He lived during a dangerous time when Mongol hordes riding swift horses raided the countryside, eventually causing the fall of the Seljuk rulers. It was a hard time, and people could certainly use a laugh.
Hodja wore a large turban to show he was an educated man. According to legend, he often rode his donkey backward, because— sh!—he didn’t want anyone to know he was going the same place as his beast of burden!
This story is from the November/December 2017 edition of Cricket Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the November/December 2017 edition of Cricket Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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