On Tales of Juha
Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. Tales of Juha: Classic Arab Folk Humor. Northampton: Interlink Books, 2006. pp. viii + 144. Cloth. $25.00.
This is a fine collection of Juha stories — all the greatest hits, organized by theme. Some chapters are extraordinarily short and one runs to about a third of the whole, and it’s clear the stories were told and assembled at different times, since Juha keeps turning up in different places and under different rulers. He’s the epitome of the absent-minded sage, and the stories are good for both entertainment and wisdom.