Imagine yourself for a moment in Western Nigeria on a moonlit evening. The day's work has been done, and friends and neighbors have gathered. Suddenly one among the group turns to an older man sitting at the edge of the piazza. "Tell us a story," he begs. And he knows what he is asking. Many in the group can tell stories and very well indeed, for storytelling has been a tradition in Nigeria for hundreds of years. The old man rises and usually begins, "Far away and long ago in a small village " Somewhat in each story there is likely to be a moral, a human truth that is taught through what...

In casting them into English, Walker has paid particular attention to capturing the flavor and excitement of the Turkish telling, while not infringing "on the narrator's right to have the tale recreated as he had told it." The Beauty, power, and appeal of the present volume for the general reading public, however, depends largely upon Barbara Walker's own consummate skill as a teller and re-teller of tales and her commitment to conveying as much of the Turkish performance context as possible. In a gesture which is perhaps symptomatic of the reasons for this volume's success, Barbara Walker]...

Every country has its folk hero real or legendary, and in Turkey he goes by the name of Nasreddin Hoca, pronounced Nahz-red'-din Hoe'-djah. He lived several years ago and he served as a religious teacher, Moslem priest or judge as the occasion demanded. In spite of these exalted duties he was as human as any man. He could be wise and he could be foolish, and he was always able to laugh at himself. Over the years a collection of stories grew up around this man, and today there is scarcely a Turk alive who doesn't know dozens of them by heart. Barbara Walker has put together only a sampling of...

A collection of Turkish oral narratives.