The Troublemaker

“The Troublemaker” is a wonderful, kind book with a honored place among the treasures of Russian literature. It is the first part of Leonid Solovyov’s two-volume cycle about the adventures of Hoja Nasreddin, based on Central Asian folklore. The adventures of a cheerful, clever drifter—hero of countless anecdotes, parables, and fairy tales—have long since won worldwide fame. Driven by hatred for greedy rich people who fed themselves at the expense of the common folk, he uses every kind of trick to outsmart enforcers of order and to give the wicked and the scoundrels what they deserve, hidden behind the broad back of the law.