Goha the Wise Fool

I read Goha the Wise Fool by Denys Johnson - Davies. It was about a gentleman named Goha. At the end of the book it has a paragraph giving the background information about this book. It is unknown where he came from, several Middle Eastern countries claim he originated with them. I'm not sure when the story took place or exactly where. I'm guessing definitely in a mid eastern country, because it takes place in a small town where they ride donkeys. Some claim he is a real man, while others say he is make believe. 

When I first read this book, I didn't like it too much. Every page is a story about Goha, so it was a little confusing and a little random to read. Some stories went together and were interesting, others I felt a little lost on. I knew the moral was going to be about Goha and that he was a wise man that went through trials and outsmarted them. As I reread it, I started seeing that there was more to it.

All the stories had the same concept. It seemed as if everyone around Goha was trying to trick him. His friends went to his house and tried tricking him, but he ended up tricking them before they got to him. At one point in the story his own wife wanted to trick him. my favorite is the way he outsmarted her. He bought 3 pounds of fine meat and asked her to cook the meat. While he was gone some ladies came over and smelt the good meat. They all agreed to get a small taste of the meat, it was so delicious they wanted more. They kept tasting it until they realized it was all gone. When he got home, his wife told him that the neighbors cat ate the meat. Goha go the cat and weighed him in front of the wife. The cat weighed exactly 3 pounds and asked the wife if this cat weighs 3 pounds, then how could the meat possibly be inside.

Another moral of the story was not to care what people around think of you. He took his son on a journey where they did things that was normally unseen and would let the people talk about them. It seemed as if no matter what they did people would still have something to say, so they learned to ignore it.

Goha's character is a great role model for children. He was funny at times, wise at most times, and at the right times he was a great trickster. It was a great book that bullies might even want to read, so they can know that they might be outsmarted themselves and might stop them from trying things. It was also a good lesson in which it doesn't matter what people think of you. People are always going to say something no matter what, so you have to ignore it or you have to be witty and outsmart them. I wouldn't personally read this to my children. The morals of the book were really cute, but I feel like 2nd graders wouldn't really relate to the book as much and might get confused. If I did, I might just read it then explain what happened after each page in my own words along with the pictures.