Nasrudin Hodža: Anegdote
A collection of over 450 short humorous anecdotes about the legendary folk sage and joker Nasrudin Hodja (13th century, Asia Minor), who in the Balkan tradition became a universal symbol of cunning, ingenuity, and opposition to stupidity and injustice.
One of the most famous and beloved books of 20th-century Bosnian-Herzegovinian literature. Isaković selected and masterfully retold the best stories from Turkish, Arabic, Persian and Balkan oral traditions, adding a dozen Bosnian versions (“hodža in Sarajevo”, “in Mostar”, etc.). The anecdotes are short (often 4–10 lines), absurdly funny, but always carry a deeper message: a critique of hypocrisy, greed, bureaucracy, judges, the rich and scholars.
The most famous:
- Hodža rides a donkey upside down because “if I look at you, you have to look at me”
- “Why are you knocking on your own door?” – “To see if anyone is home”
- Hodža carries water in a sieve because “that’s what the kadi ordered”
- “Where is your father?” – “In paradise.” – “And why are you crying?” – “Because it’s cold there, and I only gave him summer clothes.”
The language is rich, full of Bosnian expressions, proverbs, and oriental flair, and the humor works on three levels: children laugh at the absurd situation, adults recognize the satire, and the smartest see the philosophical depth (similar to Zen koans).
One copy is available
