Hoja's Vigil (1950s)

[Music] [Music] Not too far away, there is a town which some of us know well. Today, a gentle breeze is blowing which has been a welcome relief to everyone or almost everyone. Our young radical Hamid feels differently of [Music] course. Ah, good. Now Hamid can move on to the coffee house and join our friends Burhan and the wise shake who often recalls the stories of Naseradin Ocha. Greetings to you. Good afternoon to you Hamid. Gentlemen I have been thinking well there's a first time for everything. I am convinced that every country should have free and powerful newspapers. Why? This article tells how the bus strike started only after the workers had tried for weeks to agree with their employers. Ah, but that is not what my paper says. It says here the strike was called without warning. That is all trash. There should be laws against printing lies. Who said there were lies? Aha. Amid, you just said you wanted a free press. Freedom to print the truth. Yes. Not to spread evil lies. But who decides what is true and fit to print? Hamid, you and your radical comrades. Sit down, Hamid. What you mean by freedom of the press is not freedom at all. You want a double standard where newspapers print everything you believe in. But leave out everything you disagree with. Someone ought to teach you, as Nazeradin Hocha once taught two neighbors in his village, that unfair rules are easier to make than to live by. Will you tell us the story, Affendi? I will. I will. [Music] As it is written in some histories, winters were very, very cold in the years of Naseredin Hocha. On one such winter night, two of his neighbors made their way to the shivering Hocha's house, determined to make him provide a good, warm dinner. [Music] Ha, would you like to make a bet with us? If you are brave enough to stand in the cemetery all night with no heat, we will buy you a dinner. And while the hocher defended his courage, they added, "But if you leave before the first crows, or if you use any heat at all, you must feed us a dinner fit for a king." "Is it agreed?" And the Hocha agreed. In the darkest night of the year, when the stars have all gone out, then courage is better than fear, and faith is better than doubt. Repeating this rhyme to himself, Nazeredine turned his eyes toward the distant village, where an occasional flicker of light was the only sign of life in the whole frozen landscape. Hour after hour, the Hocha kept his pigel. And as he watched the distant spot of light, he waited for the first cop to [Music] crow. [Music] Excuse me. [Music] [Music] While he was throwing out and thinking of the fine meal he had won, the Hocher began to describe the icy blackness of the cemetery. But the moment he mentioned the distant flicker of candle light, the jokers cried out, "No, that won't do, Hocha. We agreed that you were to have nothing like fire or heat. Yet all night you had the light of a candle to warm you. You have not kept the agreement. In vain, Naseredine protested that this was unfair, but his two friends shouted him down, and at last the weary Hocher agreed to give the dinner. [Music] That evening, the Hocha's friends sat waiting for the dinner hour to arrive. Growing more and more impatient, but Nasered could not be rushed, the food was still cooking. There was nothing to do but wait, and wait they did, while their stomachs grumbled unpleasantly. Of course, the Hocha was very sympathetic. I cannot serve you raw food. Be patient. By midnight, when Naseredine still pleaded that the food was not ready, the two jokers determined to see for themselves. And what they found outside completely destroyed their sense of humor. [Music] This is not funny, Hocha. How can one little candle ever bring such a big kettle to boil? But Naseredine only nodded his head wisely. How soon you have forgotten. Only last night you decided that I was warming myself by the light of a candle a mile away. Surely if I could warm myself that way, a candle right under the pot can easily cook a meal. That should not be hard to [Music] understand. And the Hoch's friends understood all too well. So you see, unfair or dishonest rules and laws are easier to make than to live by. Hamid, I will not listen to the preaching of old stories by old men. Closed minds go with closed fists. Pardon offending. The young radicals believe that a good society will result when the newspapers print only what agrees with them. If this is the modern state of mind, we have gone backward, not forward since the days of Nasered Hocha. Don't you think so? [Music]