Some of these stories reminded me a bit of the stories of the religious scholar, trickster and scoundrel Nasreddin Hodja, who uses his wits to get the better of

Some of these stories reminded me a bit of the stories of the religious scholar, trickster and scoundrel Nasreddin Hodja, who uses his wits to get the better of kings and sultans. Nasreddin is AIUI originally a Turkish figure but whose legend exists over the whole Turkish-influenced world from the Balkans to China. Some of the stories have been translated to other cultures- I've definitely heard the one about the time he offers to teach a horse to sing told about a rabbi and the Tsar.