Reading Notes: Week 5, Turkish Fairy Tales Part B

Story Sources: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos 1913
Image: the girl began to relate her life story http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/turkish-patience-stone-and-patience.html

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife cont.

the girl began to relate her life story

• a poor woman that had a daughter. mom went out to do the washing, the daughter worked on her embroidery
• a little bird told the young girl her kismet was with a dead person
• mom came home, girl told her what the bird said, mom told her to lock the doors and windows
• this happened again, mom told her to hide in the closet and work by candle light
• she still saw the bird again and told her the same message
• mom stayed at home and the bird did not come
• girls in the neighborhood came and asked if the young girl can come play with them. mom was hesitant, but agreed because they would not let her out of her sight
• the girls played in the meadows, on the way home they stopped for a drink and a wall of roses sprouted up isolating her from the other girls
• the group of girls had to tell the mother after some bickering between them, mom ran to the wall of roses
• the girl fell asleep exhausted from crying, when she woke up the next morning there was a door. and through the door was a splendid palace
• there was 40 keys on the wall, each opening a room of different kinds of precious stones.
• in the last room there was a handsome prince? with a  pearl fan beside him and a note saying "whoever for forty days will fan me and pray beside me shall find her kismet."
• the girl remembers what the bird had said, "that in a dead person she should find her kismet."
• she prayed and fanned for 40 days, on the last morning she looked out a window and saw an Arab girl and asked her to come inside. and told her to continue praying and fanning while she cleaned herself and the room up
• the man woke up and embraced the Arab girl
• she became his wife, and told the poor girl to go back to work. making the Bey think she wass a cook
• he bey asked all his servants what they would like for him to make them as it was custom
• the Arab wanted a garment which neither needle had sewn nor scissors cut. the maiden asked for a yellow patience stone and a brown patience knife
• the bey found the garment but not the stone and knife and would not return without it
• the bey was curious as why she wanted the stone and knife, one night he hid in the kitchen to see why
• the maiden repeated what the bird had told her, what her and her mother had endured, how she came to the palace, and finally how she asked the woman to relieve her while she freshened up. the stone swelled, gasped, and splintered and foamed as it was about to burst
•  further how the Arab had deceived her, and the bey had taken her as a wife
• the bey jumped out of his hiding spot before she stabbed herself yelling "you are mytrue kismet!" took her to the place of the Arab woman, the false one was put to death and the maiden's mother was sent for to come to the palace
• they lived happily ever after

The Imp of the Well Cont.

•  miller grinding and his cat.. the cat--Oh... naming of the features of the cat
• next door was a woodcutter, only had a cantankerous wife that took all his money
• she would make the food to salty, no salt as all, then too much salt where it could not be eaten. 
• one day he kept some money to buy a rope. the wife was mad
• the next morning he left on a donkey into the mountains leaving his wife behind and told her she must not follow him
• she followed him on a donkey
• he was cutting wood in the mountain the wife was walking to a fro restlessly and fell into a well
• the husband left her there and went back home
• the next day he returned and decided to check on his wife in the well, there was no trace of her in the well
• he dropped a rope in and told her to grab it and he pulled her up, but when she was brought to the surface it wasn't his wife but a horrible imp
• the imp told him not to worry, and about the struggle with his wife in the well. the imp would reward him for saving her
• the imp gave him 3 leaves and told him that she would go into the sultans daughter and she would become very ill, no medicine will heal her. when he hears of this go and place the leaves on her face the imp will leave and he shall be richly rewarded
• the imp went straight to the princess and she had a horrible headache
• the physicians and hodjas and even astrologers were no help in curing the princess of her pain
• the woodcutter forgot about his wife and almost the imp, then he heard the Padishah's proclamation and the reward
• if he who could help the princess was a Mussulman he would marry the princess and then the kingdom at his death, if he was an unbeliever all the treasures of his kingdom shall be the one who could help her
• the woodcutter went straight there to the palace moistened the leaves and pressed them on her forehead. instantly she was healed. henceforth the woodcutter was known as the Padishah's son-in-law
• the Padishah had a good friend in the neighboring kingdom whose daughter also fell ill to the Imp. our Padishah sent his son-in-law to help heal her
• when he arrived at the neighboring kingdom the Imp spoke to him saying, that I gave you a princess and I sought one for myself would you take this one also from me? if you do I will take your princess from  you. 
• the woodcutter was puzzled and thought of a trick to play on the Imp, he said his wife the woman in the well had gotten out and follows him around and she is behind the door.
• the imp was frighten left the sultans daughter and the town to never be heard of again

The Soothsayer

• a man between 40 and 50 grey hair and beard looked like 60-70 yrs old very skillful in different branches
• on the wife's way to the bath there was a commotion because the chief soothsayer's wife was coming to the establishment
• the bath-woman begged the lady to choose her place in hopes of receiving a gift
• the woman returned home and told her husband that he must become a soothsayer or she would leave him
• he replied that he had no time to study the soothsayers art and how she wished for him to carry out her wish
• she just repeated herself
• she was exceptional beautiful and he did like the idea of loosing her
• while he was at a coffee house his friend came over and asked what was the matter? he told him. and his friend knew the bath woman and told her of his problems. 
• she told them for him to come and sit outside bringing paper, pen, inkpot and to scribble away like a soothsayer the rest would be her affair
• our man could not read or write but he went and bought all the supplies, stood outside the gate, and everyone mistook him for a hodja
• the soothsyers wife came again to the bath house, the bath woman stole a ring and hid it in the mud told our man of what happened. 
• the soothsayers wife made a big commotion over her lost ring, the bath woman told her that there was a hodja at the gate who is skilled in finding lost things
• he told them where to find the lost ring. they found it. and the soothsayers wife went home as happy as can be
• later the Sultana had lost her ring, was reported that slaves had stolen it. the soothsayrs wife mentioned that the hodja that helped her was the best one to find the lost ring
• the sultana sent for the hodja, gave him until the next morning to find the ring or he would lose his head
• he prayed to allah to help him. the slave who had stolen the ring gotten up in the night and went to the hodja. falling at his feet she presents the ring and asked him for help so she would not die as well
• he tells her to have a goose swallow the ring, then afterwards break its leg. 
• morning came and he told the Shah to bring all the poultry animals to the garden. with no delay this was done. spotting the goose with a  broken leg he told the shah to kill this goose and the lost ring will be found inside
• poor goose...
• thus he was promoted to chief soothsayer receiving several palatial residences as presents. 

The Wizard and his Pupil

• a woman who had a son that would always runaway from school
• mother asked where she should send him but he responded with for her to go with him to school
• they went to a market and the boy was impressed with a  wizard
• the boy was able to learn all that the wizard was able to teach him.
• one day the wizard instructed him that he would turn himself into a donkey, take him to the market and sell him but keep the rope
• the donkey was bought for 500 piastres, the kept the rope as instructed. that night the wizard changed back into human form then ran home
• this happened the next day but this time a horse that sold for 1000 piastres .
• the boy went to his mother and told her that he had learned all that he could and was able to make a great deal of money. and told his mom that he would turn himself into bath house that she would sell but not the key to the front door or he would be lost
• that night the wizard changed back and returned home to find his pupil not there. he was mad
• the next day at the auction the wizard was in the audience and knew that the bath house was his pupil. he would outbid all the other bidders for the bath house
• when he wa about to pay the woman she told him that she could not give up the key, and he would not pay her if she didn't give him the key. convinced the woman that she could buy another key if she must have one. she ended up giving him the key
• when she gave up the key the boy felt like his time had come and changed himself into a bird and flew away. his master changed into a falcon and chased him.
• the boy changed himself into a rose and fell in the garden at the king in the neighboring kingdom, a gift from allah. the wizard changed into a minnesinger playing an instrument 
• the wizard convinced the king to give him the rose for he had been searching for love light and happiness and found it in the rose
• the rose fell to the ground and changed into a pile of millet, one fell under the kings foot. the wizard changed into a chicken and ate up the millet except for the piece that fell under the kings foot. 
• the millet changes back into the youth then he grabbed the chicken and killed it with his hands
• the king commanded the youth to explain his riddle. he told the king everything from beginning to end
• amazed the king appointed him the Grand Vezir and gave him his daughter in marriage.

The Liver

• an old woman wanted to eat some live. gave money to her daughter to buy some, told her to wash it and bring It straight home
• she did as she was told
• when picking it up from the pond a stork swooped down and stole it from her hands
• the stork asked for barley in exchange for the liver
• she had to go on a search for multiple thing to appease the other. finally coming to a peaseant for some straw asking for a kiss. 
• so after receiving the straw she gave the straw to an ox, who gave her a hide, that she gave to the tanner that gave her shoes, that she gave to the merchant that gave her incense, that she burnt before allah praying for rain for the farmer, that gave her barley, which she took to the stork to give her back the liver that she took to her mother who cooked it and they ate it up

Madjun

• a bald headed young man whose mother was very old. she wanted him to learn a trade but he always ran away
• one day he saw the princess and could not stop thinking about her 
• with out a trade or money to his name his mother went to the king on his behalf
• she told the king of her son and was sent to bring him to the king
• he was disgusted by his looks, but said if he could gather all the birds of the world in this spot he would give him his daughter
• the man resorted to travel and came across a dervish who he told of his difficulties 
• the dervish told him to go to a Cyprus tree and told him to say madjun there all the bird would stick to the tree. then collect them and take them to the king
• he thanked the dervish and did as he was told
• the king was not impressed and gave him another impossible task. thus giving away the princess to the son of his vizer. all of the kings servants were frozen in place by the man saying madjun
• the kings soothsayer told him it was because he promised his daughter to the bald man and he did not stay to his word. the king sent for the bad man
• upon arriving back at the castle the king greated him like a son asking where he had been. the man told him that he had been traveling the world
• without delay he was to marry the princess. afterwards he went to all that had been frozen under the spell and said be released from madjun and they immediately were free and skipped for joy
• when the son of the Vezir was released he ran away and was never seen again