Reading Notes: Fourty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales (Part A)
- Fear -
A boy's mother is afraid, and the boy wonders what fear is. So he leaves to find 'fear.' He comes across robbers, then a dead hand reaching from a grave. Then he enters a house and a girl, who climbs onto his shoulders, nearly strangles him. Then he gets into an argument over the ownership of a bracelet and is involved with the law. Then he beats a mermaid at the bottom of a sea so she stops shaking a ship. The boy then approaches a fountain in a garden, and 3 pigeons dove in and came out as young women, who turned out to have been the hand, the strangling girl, and the mermaid. They drink to his health.
- Fear cont. -
So the boy asked the ladies for the brother of the bracelet, and they showed him a cave of treasures and he found a lookalike bracelet. Then he went on his travels searching for fear. He came across a kingdom where the king had just died, and they released a pigeon. Whoever's head it lands on is the new king. It landed on the boy's head 3 separate times, although he declined the title each time. The late king's wife said he can enjoy the title tonight and see fear tomorrow. Apparently, though, every newly proclaimed king only lasted the first night and would die the next day. So slaves were setting up a coffin for the boy, but he set it on fire and was alive and well the next day. At mealtime, the late king's wife had put a live bird in the soup, and she encouraged the boy to get some soup. When he opened the lid, the bird flew out. The late king's wife declared that was fear because the youth was afraid.
- The Wizard-Dervish -
A king and his wife were without child. A wizard granted them a son, but on the condition that when he turns 20 he'll belong to the wizard. So, as the young man was getting ready to marry, he was swept away to a valley by the wizard where 3 doves who turned into maidens bathed. The third maiden told the prince that he was going to be hung and beaten by the wizard, her father, and to reply "I know not" when asked if he knows. After three times of this, the wizard asks him to pick one of the maidens for him to marry. The maiden secretly instructed him to set a bird flying, who will fly to her, and that whoever the bird goes to he shall marry.
- The Wizard Dervish cont. -
But the maiden's mother was a witch who didn't consent to this marriage. So one day, the witch was after them, and the maiden turned the prince into a garden and herself into a gardener. The witch asked the gardener if she'd seen the pair, but the gardener didn't answer her question and only talked of gardening. The witch left, and the pair turned back to their normal selves. But when the witch turned to have a second look, they were walking together again. So as the witch approached, the maiden turned the prince into an oven and herself into a baker. When the witch inquired about the couple, the baker only talked of baking. The witch left and the pair turned into their normal selves again. When the witch looked back, she saw them and realized they were the oven and baker, so she went after them again. But the maiden turned the prince into a large pond and herself into a duck swimming. The witch, unable to cross the pond, finally left. So the couple turned into their normal selves and entered an inn. The prince said for her to stay there while he gets a carriage. But the wizard finds him and takes him back to the palace, where all the wedding guests were waiting. The prince questions his reality, and the maiden believes he's abandoned her. She sees him at the wedding and cries, returning to the inn, but the prince rode to the inn and brought her back. The first bride was bored and left, so the prince married the maiden, and all was well.
- The Fish-Peri -
A young man whose parents had died was trying to figure out how to make a living, as the parents never told him they were fishermen. The man found a net and went fishing, and caught two fish. He sold one, bought coal, and ate the other. The next time he went fishing, he caught a fish so amazing he couldn't eat or sell it, so he put the fish in a well by his house, going hungry. Then, after returning home each day from fishing, he noticed his house was being cleaned. At first he thought it was the neighbors, but he decided to stay and watch to see who it was. He saw the fish in the well jump out and become a beautiful woman. He tossed the fish skin into the fire, releasing the maiden from having to become a fish again. She consented to become his wife, but because of her beauty the king wanted to marry her. So the king said that if the man can build a palace in the middle of the ocean in forty days, he can marry her instead. The maiden told the man to place a stone where he caught her as a fish, and an Arab will ask what he wishes. Then the man should tell him a cushion, and to throw the cushion into the sea where the king expects the palace.
- The Fish-Peri cont. -
So the next day a palace was where the cushion landed. The king asked for a bridge, so the fisherman used a bolster from the Arab. The king asked for a huge feast that could feed everyone with there still being leftovers, so the fisherman got a coffee-mill from the Arab. The king asked for a mule from an egg, so the fisherman obtained three eggs from the Arab and a mule sprung from an egg. The king asked for a baby no more than a day old to speak and walk, so the fisherman brought the Arab's nephew who slapped the king and pointed out his absurd requests. The king, only wanting the baby to leave him alone, said the fisherman could marry the maiden.
- The Crow-Peri -
A boy whose parents had died became a bird catcher. One day while catching birds, he caught a crow who begged to be released in exchange for a prettier bird. So, he let it go and the prettiest bird he'd ever seen flew into the cage. The boy sold the bird to the king and received a bunch of gold. The statesman was jealous of this payment, so he suggested the king get an ivory cage for the bird, and that the boy could get him the ivory. So the king commanded the boy to get him the ivory. Hopeless, the boy had no clue how to get that much ivory. The crow told him to ask the king for a bunch of wine, which he did and the king granted. The crow then said to give that to the elephants to drink, and while they're unconscious to cut off their tusks. So the boy did and the king was thrilled to have the ivory. The pretty bird liked its new cage but still wouldn't sing, so the statesman encouraged the king to have the boy find the bird's owner.
- The Crow-Peri cont. -
The crow told the boy that the pretty bird's owner was the queen of the fairies, and to have the king build an elaborate ship with a garden and bath for his journey; so, he asked and the king had the ship built. The boy soon reached the place of the 40 fairies who all loved his ship, but only the queen was allowed on to see it. She decided while she was there that she'd have a nice bath, and the boy set sail back home. The queen was distraught, but the boy assured her nothing bad was to come of her. So they arrived and the pretty bird started singing, and soon the queen fairy married the king. But the queen then fell ill, and the boy went to find a cure, which the crow said was at the fairy palace, and to use a feather to calm the lions guarding it. He did, and the fairies gave him the cure. It healed the queen, and she recognized the crow as a previous servant, and turned her back into a beautiful maiden, who then married the boy. And the king dismissed the statesman, and gave the bird-catcher a higher rank.
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