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!
Denne historien er fra November/December 2017-utgaven av Cricket Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra November/December 2017-utgaven av Cricket Magazine for Kids.
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The Tale Of Paddy Ahern
THERE ONCE WAS a lad named Paddy Ahern who trod the green hills of Limerick, Ireland, offering to help farmers with their chores in return for food and lodging.
The Pedestrians
EACH TIME HELGA Estby looked over her shoulder, the big cat was there. Crossing Wyoming’s Red Desert on foot, in the dust and heat of August 1896, was tough.
The Magic Gifts
A Basque Folk Tale
The Dragon's Scales
“THREE YEARS I'VE been waiting, when Torquil promised he’d return them in three days. I’m not waiting three more days to get back what’s mine!” The dragon punctuated his remarks with a smoky snort and a lashing tail.
The Water Bucketre
A Chinese Folk Tale.
Between The Pages
One rainy night, while alone in the castle library with her talking gargoyle, Marcus, Princess Audrey finds a book with the odd title Finding Angel. Meanwhile, in modern times, a girl named Angel is celebrating her thirteenth birthday.
Swim Buddies
I LEAN OVER the side of the catamaran and peer into the crystal blue water. This is my last chance, I think.
The Bushwhackers
I CAN’T ABIDE living one more day in this pigpen!” I groaned and rolled out of bed to pull on my dress.
As American as Appleless Pie!
NOTHING IS MORE American than the humble apple pie. There’s even an old saying to prove it: “as American as apple pie.” So it may come as a surprise that many early settlers who forged the trails of our expanding nation were often without apples to make this most American of desserts. As pioneers headed west in pursuit of territory and gold, they had to leave many things behind, including apples. Not only did life on the trail make fresh fruit like apples hard to carry and keep, apple trees were native only to the east coast, which made finding apples in the West nearly impossible.
The Man Who Built A Better Leg
THE CIVIL WAR was only a few weeks old when seven hundred and fifty Confederate recruits gathered in the fields around Philippi, Virginia. It was early June 1861, and as yet there had been no real battles. The men had eagerly volunteered, but most had no training as soldiers. Their only weapons were the ones they brought from home— old-fashioned flintlock muskets, cap and ball pistols, and a few shotguns.
