Eat, Coat, Eat! A Nasreddin Hodja Tale

Tonight’s story comes from Turkey, a country that sits between Europe and Asia. People there like to drink tea from little tulip-shaped glasses, and everyone knows the stories about Nasreddin Hodja. “Hodja” means teacher. Nasreddin lived in the town of Akşehir about eight hundred years ago, and he was famous for being both wise and funny.

One day there was a wedding in the next village. Every family around was invited, and Nasreddin Hodja was invited too.

That day he had been working in his garden, in his old, worn clothes covered with dirt. When he heard the wedding music start up, he didn’t stop to change. He just went along as he was.

When he got there, the courtyard was full of guests. The tables were piled with good food: hot soup, rice, roast meat, round loaves of bread and fruit. The smell drifted everywhere.

Nasreddin stood at the door and waited. The host bustled in and out, welcoming this guest and that one. But he looked at Nasreddin’s old clothes and turned away. Nobody invited him to sit down. Nobody brought him so much as a bowl of soup.

He stood and stood. Then quietly, he went home.

At home he washed his face, combed his beard, and took his very best coat out of the chest. It was made of fine blue cloth with a soft fur trim and shiny buttons. He put on a spotless white turban too, and went back to the wedding.

This time, as soon as the host saw him at the gate, he came running out to greet him. “Oh, welcome, welcome! What an honour that you’ve come!”

The host led him in and seated him at the head of the table, the place for the most important guest. They brought him hot soup, rice and roast meat, and set it all in front of him. “Please, eat! Help yourself, Hodja!”

Nasreddin looked at the soup. Then he took the end of his coat sleeve, dipped it into the bowl, and said loudly: “Eat, coat, eat!”

The whole table went silent. The host stared at him. “Hodja… what are you doing?”

Nasreddin smiled and answered calmly, “When I came here before in my old clothes, nobody offered me a single bite. Now I’m wearing this coat, I get the best seat, and soup, and rice, and meat. So it’s clearly the coat that was invited, not me. It ought to eat first.”