Nasreddin Hoca: He lived probably in the 13th century although some authorities place him in the 14th or even the 15th century. He was presumably born in Sivrihisar near Eskisehir, and had his schooling either in Konya or Aksehir where he spent many years serving as a religious teacher, preacher, and judge. He died and was buried in Aksehir where his "mausoleum" stands as an appropriate sight gag: All its walls are missing, only the iron gate remains intact with a huge padlock hanging on it. At this funniest mausoleum, Hoca's devotees hold a mostly humorous memorial ceremony each year. Nasreddin Hoca stories embody the entire spectrum of Turkish humor - from the gentlest bathos to outlandish buffoonery, from good-natured badinage to biting mockery. In evoking "thoughtful laughter" his bel esprit fulfills the requisites of comedy as expressed by some great practitioners of humor and satire: Shakespeare's maxim, "Brevity is the soul of wit." Jonathan Swift's observation "Humour is odd, grotesque and wild./ Only by affectation spoil'd." Jane Austen's assertion "The liveliest effusions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language." Indeed, Nasreddin Hoca's comic genius has its odd, grotesque, and wild aspects, never falls into the pitfalls of affectation, relates the stories in simple and spare terms, delivers the punchlines swifty, and utilizes the expressive resources of Turkish with literary precision.
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