Juha… you dog you. No matter what
the situation, Juha always comes up with the perfect answer. I wish he actually
existed and was my friend. However, if he existed and was not my friend, then I
am glad he does not exist. He would really get annoying eventually. Anyway… I
really enjoyed this last third of Tales of
Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor. The short stories covered themes of boastfulness
and false pride, cowardice, and justice and generosity. Juha also found himself
to be the butt of the joke, in need of witty responses, and a critic of
despotism. Regardless of the topic, each story made me smile or think, or even
smile and think. While a lot of these
stories are funny, many of them are insightful and made me think and appreciate
Juha’s wisdom.
For example, when Juha was a
judge, he always justly decided cases. On page 127, a poor man held bread over
another man’s steaming pot. The man with the pot demands payment from the poor
man. I did not see the ending coming, but I really liked it. I wish I could be
this clever. Juha jingles a number of coins and says, “You can take the
jingling of the coins… as the price of the flavorsome steam of your cooking”
(127). The steam was only the product of the cook’s actions of cooking so Juha
says it is worth the product of jingling coins… the jingling noise. I got a
kick out of that judgment. The next story is similar. A man yells encouraging
noises at a woodcutter then demands payment. Juha makes coins hit one another
and says, “Take that as your fee- one encouraging sound for another” (128). I
thought these two stories were the most simple and clever at the same time. I
also really liked the flying goose story, but I didn’t think Juha was clever in
it.
The story I found to be the most
funny was the story about how Juha is appointed as a hero to a high post in the
Tamerlane’s entourage. In order to test Juha’s courage, the Tamerlane orders
that arrows be shot in between Juha’s legs, through his cloak sleeve and
through his turban. When Juha does not flinch or show fear, he is rewarded with
all new clothes… except pants because arrows didn’t harm them. Juha asks for
pants and when the Tamerlane brings up that they were unharmed, Juha reveals
that he soiled himself. He soiled himself so bad in fact that Juha says he doesn’t
“know where to take hold of them now” (139). I found this mental picture to be
hilarious. I was not able to guess the ending, so when it came around, my inner
12 year old was rolling on the floor laughing. I got a good chuckle out of it. It’s
too bad we are done with this book; I have really enjoyed it.
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