Old Crescents into Stars

One day Nasreddin Hodja and a friend were admiring the sky and watching a new moon.
`Hodja Effendi,' asked the friend, what do they do with the old moons?'
`They cut them, trim them and turn them into stars!'
About Nasreddin Hodja

Nasreddin Hodja is Turkey's (and perhaps all of Islam's) best-known trickster. His legendary wit and droll trickery were possibly based on the exploits and words of a historical imam. Nasreddin reputedly was born in 1208 in the village of Horto near Sivrihisar. In 1237 he moved to Aksehir, where he died in the Islamic year 683 (1284 or 1285). As many as 350 anecdotes have been attributed to the Hodja, as he most often is called. Hodja is a title meaning teacher or scholar. He frequently is compared with the northern European trickster Till Eulenspiegel.

The many spelling variations for Nasreddin include: Nasreddin, Nasrettin, Nasrudin, Nasr-id-deen, Nasr-eddin, Nasirud-din, Nasr-ud-Din, Nasr-Eddin, and Nasr-Ed-Dine.

The many spelling variations for Hodja include: Hodja, Hodscha, Hoca, Chotza, Khodja, and Khoja.

Sources for anecdotes include The Tales of Nasrettin Hoca, told by Aziz Nesin, retold in English by Talat Halman (Istanbul: Dost Yayinlari, 1988); Allan Ramsay and Francis McCullagh, Tales from Turkey (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, and Kent, 1914); Somnath Dhar, Folk Tales of Turkey (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1989); and Herbert Melzig, Nasreddin Hodscha, Wer den Duft des Essens verkauft: Schwänke und Anekdoten des türkischen Eulenspiegel (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rohwolt, 1988).