The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

Nasreddin Hodja was travelling through the country with his son. Nasreddin Hodja was sitting on the donkey, and his son walked right beside them. At a certain moment they entered a small village.

"It's a disgrace, it's a disgrace," the people said. "That man is comfortably sitting on a donkey, while his poor little son has to walk."

So Nasreddin Hodja decided to make a change. He put his son on the donkey, while he went on foot himself. After a while, they arrived at the next village.

"It's a disgrace, it's a disgrace," the people said. "The boy is sitting on the donkey and his poor old father has to walk."

So Nasreddin Hodja and his son decided to sit on the donkey together. As they came into the next village, they turned out to be all wrong again.

"It's a disgrace, it's a disgrace," the people said. "That poor donkey nearly collapses under the load of these two men."

Now Nasreddin and his son had no alternative left but for both to walk alongside the donkey. Again they arrived in another village.

"Are they crazy, or what?" the people said. "They have a donkey, but no one is riding it!"

One thing became perfectly clear to Nasreddin Hodja: Whatever you do, in the eyes of other people you can't do anything right.

This and other Nasreddin Hodja tales came to the Netherlands from the 1960s onwards, along with the Turkish immigrants. The story is a version of the international tale type ATU 1215, The Miller, his Son, and the Donkey; Trying to Please Everyone. The story was told in Utrecht (Province of Utrecht) to me on October 28, 1998, by the young Dutch woman Nadia Eversteijn, who studied Turkish language and culture in Tilburg (North Brabant). The translation is based on T. Meder, De magische vlucht (Amsterdam, 2000), p. 243.