The Turkish Jester | Page 3

attached. The Cogia keeping the ox in view, ran after him, and
with the staff in his hand struck the ox several blows. 'Halloa, man!'
said the Turcoman. 'What do you want with my ox?' 'Don't you
interfere, you foolish dog,' said the Cogia. 'He knows full well what he
has done.'

One day the Cogia made his last will. 'When I die,' said he, 'place me in
an old tomb.' When the people about him said, 'Why do you make this
request?' the Cogia said, 'When the inquiring angels come and ask me
questions, I can say, "I am deaf. Do you not see that I as well as my
tomb am old?"'
One day Cogia Efendi, putting on very short habiliments, went to the
mosque to say his prayers. Whilst performing the rakoua the man who
was behind him perceiving the Cogia's --- seized hold of them and
squeezed them, whereupon the Cogia, seizing hold of those of the man
who was before him, squeezed them too; the man, turning round and
perceiving that it was Cogia Efendi himself, said, 'Halloa, what are you
about?' 'You must ask the man behind me,' said the Cogia.
One day the boys of Belgrade took the Cogia along with them into the
bath. They had secretly brought in their pouches a number of eggs. One
and all going into the bathing-house, took off their clothes and went in,
and then, sitting down on the bench, they all said to one another, 'Come,
let us lay eggs: whosoever does not lay an egg shall pay the expenses of
the bath'; after which they began to make a great noise, cackling like
hens, and flinging the eggs which they had brought on the stone bench.
Cogia Efendi, seeing what they were about, suddenly began to make a
great noise and crow like a cock. 'What are you about, Cogia Efendi?'
said the boys. 'Why,' said he, 'is not a cock necessary where there are so
many hens?'
One day the Cogia, putting on black clothes, went out. The people,
looking at him, said, 'Cogia Efendi, for whose death are you in
mourning?' The Cogia answered, 'My son's father is dead, and I wear
mourning for him.'
One day Cogia, returning from the harvest field, felt very thirsty.
Looking around, he saw that they watered a tree by means of a pipe
from a fountain. The Cogia exclaimed, 'I must drink,' and pulled at the
spout, and as he did so the water, spouting forth with violence, wetted
the mouth and head of the Cogia, who, in a great rage, said, 'They
watered this wretched tree in order that one fool might wet another.'

One day the Cogia, taking some water melons with him, went to the
mountain in order to cut wood. Feeling thirsty, he cut one of the melons,
and, putting it to his mouth, cast it away, saying that it was tasteless. He
then cut up another, and, to be short, he cut them all up, and, having
eaten a little of each, made water over what remained. He then fell to
work at cutting wood. After some time the Cogia again became thirsty,
and finding no water, he went to the bits of the melons which he had
cut up, and saying, 'This is sprinkled, and this is sprinkled,' ate them all.
Cogia Nasr Eddin Efendi had a lamb which he had fattened to a high
degree. One day some of his friends having assembled, said, 'Let us get
the lamb from the Cogia and feast upon it.' So coming to the Cogia as
quick as possible, they said, 'O Cogia, to-morrow is the Day of
Judgment; what would you do with this lamb? Come, take it, and let us
eat it.' The Cogia, however, would not believe them. Coming again,
however, they said the same thing, and the Cogia, at last believing their
words were true, slaughtered the lamb, and, taking it on his back, he
carried it to the public walk, and, lighting a fire, he began to prepare a
roast. Presently, stripping their bodies, they delivered their clothes to
the Cogia, and each went aside to sleep. Whereupon the Cogia, taking
their garments, flung them all into the fire and burnt them. In a little
time, their bellies becoming hungry from the sleep they had had, they
came again, and saw that their garments were nearly reduced to a coal.
Whereupon they said to the Cogia, 'Who burnt our clothes?' 'My dear
friends,' replied the Cogia, 'to-morrow is the Day of Resurrection, so
what need can you have of clothes?'
One day a thief, entering the house of the Cogia, laid hold of
everything there was there, and, placing it on his back, went away. The
Cogia, however, spying