TOLD IN THE COFFEE HOUSE

Told in the Coffee House

Turkish Tales

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.

[Pg v]

PREFACE

In the course of a number of visits to Constantinople,I became much interested in thetales that are told in the coffee houses. Theseare usually little more than rooms, with wallsmade of small panes of glass. The furnitureconsists of a tripod with a contrivance for holdingthe kettle, and a fire to keep the coffeeboiling. A carpeted bench traverses the entirelength of the room. This is occupied by turbanedTurks, their legs folded under them,smoking nargilehs or chibooks or cigarettes,and sipping coffee. A few will be engaged in agame of backgammon, but the majority enterinto conversation, at first only in syllables, whichgradually gives rise to a general discussion.Finally, some sage of the neighborhood comesin, and the company appeals to him to settlethe point at issue. This he usually does bytelling a story to illustrate his opinion. Someof the stories told on these occasions are adaptations[Pg vi]of those already known in Arabic andPersian literature, but the Turkish mind givesthem a new setting and a peculiar philosophy.They are characteristic of the habits, customs,and methods of thought of the people, and forthis reason seem worthy of preservation.

Two of these tales have been taken fromthe Armenian, and were received from Dr. K.Ohannassian of Constantinople. For one, TheMerciful Khan, I am indebted to Mr. GeorgeKennan. None of them has been translatedfrom any book or manuscript, and all are, asnearly as practicable, in the form in which theyare usually narrated. Most of the stories havebeen collected by Mr. Allan Ramsay, who, bya long residence in Constantinople, has hadspecial opportunities for learning to know themodern Turk. It is due to him, however, tosay that for the style and editing he is in nowise responsible, and that all sins of omissionand commission must be laid at my door.

CYRUS ADLER.

Cosmos Club, Washington,
    February 1, 1898.

[Pg vii]

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