NASREDDİN HODJA'S LİFE Nasreddin lived in Anatolia, Turkey; he was born in Hortu Village in Sivrihisar,Eskişehir in the 13 th century, then settled in Akşehir, and later in Konya where he died (probably born in 1209 CE and died 1275/6 or 1285/6 CE). As generations went by, new stories were added, others were modified, and the character and his tales spread to other regions. The themes in the tales have become part of the folklore of a number of nations and express the national imaginations of a variety of cultures. Although most of them depict Nasreddin in an early small-village setting, the tales (like Aesop’s fables) deal with concepts that have a certain timelessness. They purvey a pithy folk wisdom that triumphs over all trials and tribulations. The oldest manuscript of Nasreddin was found in 1571. Today, Nasreddin stories are told in a wide variety of regions, especially across the Muslim world, and have been translated into many languages. Some regions independentl