The Maiden in the Box
Once upon a time there was a poor old woman who had one son. When the boy grew up, she said to him, “We are poor folk, my son. Now that you are grown up, you will have to look for a job so that we can live. I cannot feed you any longer.” The […]
The Tale of the Youth who Understood the Language of the Animals
Once upon a time there was a youth who was neither poor nor rich. He owned a team of oxen and a herd of sheep and had a garden with many different fruit trees growing in it. Whenever the young man was in his garden and people passed by, he would invite them in and allow […]
The Stirrup Moor
Once upon a time there was a king who owned a mare. It was his own personal mare and no one else was allowed to ride it. The mare had never had a foal. Nor did the king have any children. One day, he saddled the mare and rode out to find a potion so […]
The King’s Daughter and the Skull
Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters. One day he went out riding on his horse and rode past a palace surrounded by a moat. The horse got one of its legs stuck in the mire and could not extract it. A number of people happened by, but no one […]
The Bear and the Dervish
After a while, the bear became hungry and asked the dervish to bring him an ox while he cut wood in the forest. The dervish replied, “You go ahead and get your ox, that’s nothing for me. I want a lion.” With this trick, the dervish succeeded in not having to get the ox, and […]
The Snake and the King’s Daughter
Once upon a time there was an old woman who had no children and owned nothing but the little cottage she lived in. Every day, she would go into the forest to gather firewood. One day a little snake slithered into her bundle of wood. Not noticing it, the old woman heaved the wood over her […]
Gjizar the Nightingale
Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons. The only thing the king cared about was praying at the mosque. So he had a beautiful mosque built and when the workers had finished it, he went there to pray. While he was praying, a dervish entered and said to him, “The […]
Half Rooster
Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman who owned nothing but a cat and a rooster. One day they got into a terrible argument and shouted at one another so furiously that they decided to separate forever. The old couple divided everything they had and the woman got the […]
The Boy with No Name
Once upon a time there was a man and a women to whom God had given no children. One evening the man was returning from the fields with his team of oxen when he met a dervish who was leaning against the wall of his house. The dervish asked the man to invite him in […]
The Barefaced Man and the Pasha’s Brother
Once upon a time there was a widow who had two sons. The older of the two was a pasha in Baghdad. When the younger son grew up, people said to him, “Aren’t you lucky to have a brother who is Pasha in Baghdad?” The youth replied that he had no brother. “Oh yes you […]