A Real Wiseguy! Witty Sage and Ancient Comedian Nasreddin Hodja Has the Last Laugh

Top Image: A 17th century miniature of Nasreddin (CC BY-SA 3.0) and patchwork Turkish rug (CC BY 2.0); Deriv. 

One day Hodja and his students were on the way to their lesson. Hodja was sitting backwards on his donkey. "Hodja, they asked him "Why on earth do you sit that way? Isn't it uncomfortable?" 
"If I sit the other way," he answered, "you would all be behind me and we wouldn't be face-to-face. Riding this way is better." 

(Kabacali, A., Nasreddin Hodja, p.1) 

A white-bearded and big-bellied man wearing a huge turban and a green caftan— a representative of Nasreddin Hodja—paraded the streets of Rotterdam to deliver messages of peace, tolerance and secular wisdom in 2005 at the Nasreddin Hodja Festival in Netherlands. In 2006, the inauguration of a statue of Nasreddin Hodja facing backwards on his donkey, on Rue Galait in Schaerbeek, Brussels, took place with similar messages. 

Statue of Nasreddin Hodja and Donkey, Ankara. (© Nevit Dilmen/CC BY-SA 3.0) 

People in Turkey have known the jokes and stories of Nasreddin Hodja, a comedic writer said to have lived in the 13th century, since their childhoods. His stories have traveled over land and sea, making their way into the hearts and minds of tribal members of various cultural backgrounds, from Turkey to the Persian, Arabian and African cultures, even along the Silk Road to China and India. His messages are so universal that every culture seems to claim this man as their own. However, despite his popularity, there are still debates about his very existence. So, who is Nasreddin Hodja and did he really exist?