DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4752#0026
16 TURKISH VILLAGE LIFE IN ASIA MINOR
tory question, I exclaimed, " Turktche bihnaiorim"
(I don't know Turkish). Every one saw through
this barefaced excuse: that a man who had been
talking with perfect fluency for a quarter of an
hour, so long as he was the questioner, and had
been draining them of information about the
natural features and lie of the country, should try
to evade their questions by pretending not to know
Turkish! they were too acute to be taken in by
chaff like this: every one, proud of his own per-
spicacity, turned to his neighbour, nudged him in
the ribs to attract his attention, imparted to him
the information that the stranger was a deep and
artful dodger, but they were too smart for him, and
saw through his stratagems. Pleased with their
own acuteness, they become pleased with you.
Another unfailing way of delighting the natives
is to draw a pointed and judicious contrast between
the English and the Turkish character. You take
your text from the wonder which they always feel
that a millionaire like yourself should go through
so much fatigue as you submit to every day; and
you explain that in Inghiltcrra, when a man
possesses money he goes away to travel and visits
many lands and peoples, while the poor man stays
at home ; but in Turkey, when a man is rich, he sits
in his house, and only the poor m;m goes forth to
work. Your remarks, if well put to them, rouse
tory question, I exclaimed, " Turktche bihnaiorim"
(I don't know Turkish). Every one saw through
this barefaced excuse: that a man who had been
talking with perfect fluency for a quarter of an
hour, so long as he was the questioner, and had
been draining them of information about the
natural features and lie of the country, should try
to evade their questions by pretending not to know
Turkish! they were too acute to be taken in by
chaff like this: every one, proud of his own per-
spicacity, turned to his neighbour, nudged him in
the ribs to attract his attention, imparted to him
the information that the stranger was a deep and
artful dodger, but they were too smart for him, and
saw through his stratagems. Pleased with their
own acuteness, they become pleased with you.
Another unfailing way of delighting the natives
is to draw a pointed and judicious contrast between
the English and the Turkish character. You take
your text from the wonder which they always feel
that a millionaire like yourself should go through
so much fatigue as you submit to every day; and
you explain that in Inghiltcrra, when a man
possesses money he goes away to travel and visits
many lands and peoples, while the poor man stays
at home ; but in Turkey, when a man is rich, he sits
in his house, and only the poor m;m goes forth to
work. Your remarks, if well put to them, rouse