Told In
The Coffee House: Turkish Tales
Cyrus
Adler & Allan Ramsay
Arkansas-born educator
and scholar Cyrus Adler had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of
time in and around Constantinople in the late nineteenth century. During his
time there, he became fascinated by the rich tradition of storytelling that was
carried on in the region's coffeehouses. This collection brings together a
treasure trove of Turkish stories, fables, legends, and parables.
Collected and done into English by CYRUS ADLER AND ALLAN RAMSAY
New York The Macmillan Company | London:
Macmillan & Co., Ltd. 1898
All rights reserved COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A.
This book was first
published in 1898. This collection contains 29 Turkish tales as heard by the
authors on visits to Constantinople coffee houses (thus the title) in the late
1800s. They explain that in their visits to Istanbul they would frequent the
coffee houses. Men would gather each night and talk about different events of
the day. Often they would get in some argument and ask one of their wise elders
or hodjas to decide the case. These men would inevitably respond with a story
that, although borrowed from Persian and Arabic roots, was distinctly Turkish.
See Also:
TALES FROM TURKEY (1914)
BY ALLAN RAMSEY | Foreword by Francis McCullagh With illustrations by Veniamin
Pavlovich Belkin
