Storytelling, Self, Society, 7:161-166, 2011 |"% q .. . Copyright©Taylor &Francis Group, LLC | q KOUtl6QCJ0 ISSN1550-5340 print /1932-0280 online s mTaylor«.Francis Croup DOI:10.1080/15505340.2011.561101 BOOK REVIEW Our Old Friend, the Mullah: A Review of The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin Sandra Bird Ruresha, RonJ.TheUncommon SenseoftheImmortal MullahNasruddin: Stories Jests, andDonkey TalesoftheBelovedPersianFolkHero,MapleShade:Lethe, 2011.$18. Thesubtitle ofRonSuresha's newcollection ofNasruddin Khojafables isStories, Jests, andDonkey TalesoftheBelovedPersianFolkHero.Itisalwaysinteresting tomethat so many territories beyond thefamed villageofAksehir, Turkey, lay claimtothispopular persona. Letus suppose, as someTurks (andmany tourists) readily believe, that Nasruddin really was a historical figure. According tocompeting legends, Nasruddin Khoja was bornat Hortu, a villageattached to the townofSivrihisar, butlaterin lifehe movedto Aksehir wherehe servedas a localreligious leader. Ata cemetery inAksehir, onecanstillfind a tombstone for Nasruddin datedtheIslamicyearof"683" (1284 C.E.). Manybelievethistobe a cryptic joke left inmemory ofthefabled mullah. Thestoneliesbehind aniron grate fastened with a hugelockbuthistorically hadnowallorfencesurrounding it.Tourists canvisittheAksehir cemetery today, butthetombis nowfenced in duetothefrequency ofvisitors. Statues ofthemullah riding onhisdonkey (both correctly andbackwards) aredisplayed throughout Central Anatolia. There isalso Address correspondence toSandra Bird, Department ofVisual Arts, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA30144. E-mail: sbird@kennesaw.edu 162 BIRD a museum displaying ethnographic andfolkloric artifacts concerning Nasruddin, nearSivrihisar, ina villageproperly namedNasrettin Hoca. DespitetheIslamic dating onthetombstone andallother memorials, identifying theperiod ofTurkish history inwhich Nasruddin livedwillalwaysbea sketchy discussion. Thereare severalscholarly explorations concerning Nasruddin's dating; the first three areless likelythanthelast,baseduponreferences inthestories (see Walker). The first theory placesNasruddin at thetimeoftheAbbasidCaliph, Harounal Rashid,leaderofBaghdadattheendoftheeighth andbeginning of theninth centuries. ThisMuslim period isgenerally characterized bythefantastic talesofTheThousand andOneNights. Thiswouldlendcredence tothe"Persian folkhero"status that Suresha acknowledges inthesubtitle ofhisbook.However, thehistorical references intheNasruddin stories areinconsistent with this period. Thesecondhypothesis, ofNasruddin as a contemporary ofSaladin,wouldplace ourherointhemiddle ofthePersian Seljukera,attheendofthetwelfth century. It isclearthat Nasruddin isa by-product ofthat carefully cultured alliance ofPersian andTurkish cultures, madepossible bytheleadership oftheSeljukSultanate from theearly eleventh century intothethirteenth century. Cementing Islamic/Persian conventions (i.e.,poetry, music,finearts, and statecraft) inAnatolian practices ultimately ledtotheunification ofTurkomen tribes beneath Seljukleadership. By thethirteenth century, theSeljukSultanate ofRum(1071-1243C.E.) controlled most ofAnatolia. Seljukexpansion was interrupted bytheMongolinvasion oftheNearEast, originally led by GenghisKahn of theChineseYuan Dynasty. In 1206,the Mongolschallenged armiesfrom theChinaSea to theUkraine. Those in the Islamicterritories adopted Islamandwerereferred toas the"Ilkhanids," whose presence hada lasting impact inAnatolia. Thethird theory placesNasruddin atthemiddle ofthethirteenth century. The landsofAnatolia hadbeenleft impoverished following thedeclineoftheSeljuk Sultanate, butbytheendofthethirteenth century theOttoman statewas establishedbySultanOsmanI (1288-1325 C.E.). The Ottomans gradually extended their lands,conquering mostofAnatoliaand theareasformerly controlled by theByzantines. In 1402,Tamerlane invaded Anatoliaanddefeated theOttoman Sultan, BayazidI, attheBattleofAnkara. Tamerlane was a cruelmonarch, and hissubjects werefrightened intoobedience byhislackofrespect forhuman life. HisTurkish court wassettled inCentral Anatolia nearAksehir, thus thepossibility ofNasruddin serving as part ofTamerlane's entourage isplausible. Theimposing monarch is directly mentioned inmany oftheNasruddin stories, thusthefourth theory ofNasruddin's historical dating seemsmosttrue. Whether ourNasruddin wasa historical figure ofnot,hecertainly hashada longlifethrough thestories toldabouthim. BOOK REVIEW 163 THE TALES In 1990,Warren Walkerand AhmetUysalrepublished a collection of stories through interviews withelderstorytellers in Turkey, as TalesAlivein Turkey. Thesestories werecollectedduring field workconducted from1961-1964(the first edition ofthis bookwaspublished in1966).Their "Anecdotes" section (22450 ) represents theTurkish storytelling genre ofthe fikra. Thiscollection generally features an "authority" trickster character, andNasruddin is themostuniversal ofthesetricksters. Thefikrais a product ofpeasantwisdomandis often used tohighlight human foibles. The Nasruddin fikra can also be usedas a spiritual vehicle. TheSufis, whobelieve that deepintuition isthe only realguide toknowledge, use these stories almost like exercises. They askpeople tochoose afew which especially appeal tothem, toturn them over intheir mind making them their own. Teaching masters ofthe dervishes saythat inthis waya break through into a higher wisdom canbeeffected. (Shah Exploits 11) ManyoftheNasruddin talescanbefound inthefolklore ofother NearandMiddle Eastern, as wellas Eastern European Countries (ShahPleasantries 11). Suresha identifies therealstrength ofNasruddin's stories incontext toworld literature andstory performance, that is,itspowertobuildbridges between cultures. He relates a personal reference tothemullah stories, as they werethefirst stories helearned from hisIsraeliAmerican mother. Throughout hislifehecontinued to collecttheseanecdotes, andas a young adulthefound oneofIdriesShah'scollections ofNasruddin stories ontheshelves inanashram library. Following inthe traditional form ofNasruddin tales,Sureshapresents hiscollection in seriesof sevens, toldsevenata sitting as pertheoraltradition ofNasruddin's "curse." Halil uttered the curse ..."Nasruddin, wherever you go,whatever you say...people willonly laugh andlaugh atyou!". . . Halilindignantly added, "Not only that, but whenever someone tells onejokeatyour expense...