Hoca stories are not only full of wisdom but they are a way of breaking down barriers so if you are doing business in the Middle East you must anticipate hearing some in the course of your visit. In fact you would be wise to travel well armed with a collection of Hoca stories so you can tell one back to your client - especially if you have enough at your finger tips so that you have one appropriate to the point you want to get across. If you are giving a public speech, Hoca stories are a good alternative to a joke which the audience may have already heard. But the lovely thing about a Hoca story is that you can hear it time and again and it seems to get better. If you are reading to your child at bed time, a Hoca story is not only fun but later you can discuss the inner meaning and gain a double benefit. If you are an enterprising story teller, you can even make up your own Hoca stories. If you are teaching a course on the Middle East, you should definitely include Hoca stories; in fact if you started with a Hoca story your late arrivals will probably drop dramatically.
While this collection of 18 of the most popular stories has been prepared with children in mind, the message is there for people of all ages to appreciate alongside the beautiful illustrations which provide an insight into a very different culture from that of the West. At the end of some of the stories we are given a sentence such as: "This tale is so well known in Turkey that anyone whose innocent action brings down a punishment entirely out of scale with the offense is said to have 'frightened the potters' mules.'"
This book is well worth a read or giving as a present.