Told in the Coffee House Turkish Tales (click on an icon to
download eBook) ot far from the famous Mosque Bayezid an old
Hodja kept a school, and very skilfully he taught the rising
generation the everlasting lesson from the Book of Books. Such
knowledge had he of human nature that by a glance at his pupil
he could at once tell how long it would take him to learn a
quarter of the Koran. He was known over the whole Empire as the
best reciter and imparter of the Sacred Writings of the Prophet.
For many years this Hodja, famed far and wide as the Hodja of
Hodjas, had taught in this little school. The number of times he
had recited the Book with his pupils is beyond counting; and
should we attempt to consider how often he must have corrected
them for some misplaced word, our beards would grow gray in the
endeavor. Swaying to and fro one day as fast as his old age
would let him, and reciting to his pupils the latter part of one
of the chapters, Bakara, divine inspiration opened his inward
eye and led him to pause