The One-Feather Pillow
After a bad night lying on a single feather, the Hodja says, "How on earth do people sleep on a whole sack of feathers?"
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One day Nasreddin Hodja stayed the night at his neighbour's house. The neighbour gave him a soft pillow filled with goose feathers. As soon as the Hodja laid his head on the pillow, he fell fast asleep. When he woke up in the morning, he was amazed: "Neighbour, how soft this pillow is! What's inside it?" "Goose feathers, Hodja," said the neighbour.
The Hodja went home. "I want to sleep on a goose-feather pillow too," he said. But goose feathers were very expensive at the market. In the garden the Hodja found a single feather that a goose had dropped. He picked it up happily, put it on his bed, laid his head on the feather and lay down.
All night long the Hodja tossed and turned. Under his head was a single feather, and everything else was hard wood! His neck ached and he could not sleep. He did not shut his eyes once until morning.
In the morning he got up, worn out, took the feather in his hand and said: "I slept on a single feather and couldn't sleep all night. Heaven knows what happens to the poor people who sleep on a pillow with a whole sack of feathers! They must never sleep a wink."
His wife roared with laughter: "Husband, one feather isn't a pillow! What makes a pillow soft isn't one feather, it's thousands of feathers together."
The Hodja stopped, looked at the feather and then laughed too: "You're right, wife. One feather on its own is nothing. But a thousand feathers together send a person to sleep. Aren't people the same? One person alone can't do much, but when the whole village comes together, they can move mountains."
That week the women of the village got together. Everyone gathered the feathers their geese had dropped. In a month a big bag of feathers had piled up. The Hodja's wife sewed a soft pillow with those feathers. That night, as soon as the Hodja laid his head on the pillow, he fell asleep, and his snoring could be heard all over the neighbourhood.
Tonight, when you lay your head on your pillow, think of the thousands of little feathers inside it. They all came together so that you could sleep comfortably. Sleep well.
The tale ends here. Sleep well.
The One-Feather Pillow is a children's tale from Nasreddin Hodja, suitable for ages 4-10 and about 2 minutes long. Read it free on Masal Merkezi, play a lullaby or nature sound in the background, tap any word to see its Turkish meaning and save it to your favorites. For similar tales browse the Nasreddin Hodja category.
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