~ Quail Feast ~

[Doğan Can Çiçek]

One day the Hodja invited his friends over for dinner. He told them
that he was going to prepare a meal with roasted quails. Nasreddin
Hodja's friends, in their unceasing quest to baffle him, thought of a
prank and came to dinner prepared.

When the quails were cooked, the Hodja placed them in his old, big,
tin serving platter and put the lid on to prevent them from getting
cold. He brought the covered platter to the dinner table and went back
to the kitchen to bring other things. While he was in the kitchen, the
well-prepared pranksters, hid the platter with the cooked quails and
replaced it with another one that contained live quails.

When Nasreddin Hodja was ready to serve the dinner, he opened the lid
of the platter and to his shock, all the quails flew out and about.
The Hodja watched the birds in astonishment, darting this way and that
way, and eventually flying out the open windows.

`Sublime Allah', he spoke looking up, `it is very well that you gave
life to these cooked birds, but how are you going to reimburse me for
the butter, salt and tomato paste I used?'