Tales of Juha Part 3

In today’s reading of Tales of Juha, I continued to enjoy myself.  This isn’t a difficult reading, and that made it more enjoyable.  Something that added to the humor for me was the names of the chapters.  These gave a little foreshadowing to the type of humor in each chapter.  For example, Chapter 7, “A Witty Rogue,” was probably my favorite of this reading.  The very first story in this chapter was my favorite.  Found on page 107, this story tells of a drunkard judge in Juha’s city.  One night, Juha stole the judge’s cloak.  The judge, after sobering up, sent his clerk who found out that Juha had stolen it and brought him in front of the judge.  Juha then told the judge that he had witnesses to prove the identity of the drunkard that he had stolen the cloak from.  The judge then told Juha that he no longer cared about the identity of the cloak's owner and sent him on his way.  I thought the wit in this anecdote was great.  I love to see people outsmarted.  

The last chapter, "Critic of Despotism," was not as funny to me.  I didn't understand these anecdotes as well as the others.  Because I didn't understand them, I finished each story feeling more confused than with any of the others.  For example, on page 139 there as an anecdote about Tamerlane and Juha.  Tamerlane was asking Juha what his title would have been, and Juha said "It is to God that we Turn."  I am sure that there is some kind of underlying meaning to this, but I really had no idea what it was. 

Chapter 9, "Justice and Generosity," was a chapter that I enjoyed greatly!  I love to see a story end in justice, so these were right up my alley.  My favorite anecdote in this chapter is found on page 131.  A judge wanted to share 9 geese with 10 police officers, and consulted Juha about his predicament.  Juha put the geese in a row and told the officers to grab a goose. At the end, one officer was empty-handed and asked Juha for his share.  Juha simply told him that he told them to grab a goose, and he should have grabbed one quicker!  I thought this was funny because even though it's not exactly fair justice per se, but it's simply saying that the 10th police officer should have been quicker. 

I am a little bit sad that we are done reading this book. I have really enjoyed it!