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In Arabic

Posted June 21, 2017 by ReadLit Team

In Arabic

Nasreddin Hodja had just arrived from his trip to Arabia. All neighbours and friends gathered in the Hodja’s house to welcome him and to listen to the adventures of his voyage.

“Hodja Efendi, did you learn any Arabic?” they asked.

“I did learn some Arabic, yes indeed,” the Hodja boasted when in fact the only word he had learnt was for sheep.

“So tell us, in Arabia, what do they call an elephant?” the neighbours challenged.

“You asked a very big one. I can’t be expected to know such big ones,” the Hodja dismissed.

“What do they call a flea?”

“That’s too small. I don’t know such small ones.”

“Then, what do they call a lamb?”

“They don’t call a lamb, they wait until it grows and becomes a sheep, then they call it khuruf.”

© 2001 Lale Eskicioglu

ReadLit Team

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