Story #20 (Tape 10) Narrator: Muharrem £oban Uo

mi-if«; Location: Cavundur, village near Cubuk

Date: December 1961

y ------ ----- . _________

The Sultan* a (Forty Sons)

Once upon a time there was a jsultan who had forty sons. One day

these sons all held a meeting in ^meadOTTinear the^paJLac^

them all together in this meeting. He said to his brothers, "You all

know that our youngest brother has now reached the age of fifteen. Let

us go now to our father and ask him to find wives for all of vis."

They debated this question and tried to decide who should go to

ask their father, the sultan, aboujt this. While they were discussing

this, the youngest jumped up and said, "I shall go— but what exactly

should 1 say to our father?"

"You don't have to say anything," said the eldest brother. "Only

watch that you don't sit on Just any chair that he offers you as a seat.

Refuse each chair until he pulls out the green chair for you. When he

does that, sit on it, and he will know that you have come to ask him to ,
f t // i h j , i-H to t ¿ 4 i v l* * m * ^
let us «arry."cj ^ _ _ ^ ’» - h -----*£ ~t***-i- c I-H iy - u tt iit u

The youngest brother then pr fceeded to the palace. He refused to

sit on the first two chairs that his father offered to him, but then

when his father offered the green chair, he accepted it and sat down.^faT/e*-—

Immediately after he had sat down his father said, "I shall give 4«-** ■hr/cj
. n . _ r.tl
forty of you forty horses and forlly saddle bags filled with gold , and it^jff-- •+%>
fa
will be up to you then to find fo: ty suitable girls to marry. I shall r

have all forty of you married on the same night, and I shall pay all theyk*^. J
»
expenses of the wedding myself." ¡The youngest son bowed and left without

having said a word.

He returned to the meadow where all his brothers were waiting* "What

did our father say?" asked the eldest brother,

Story #20 id

"Our father said that he vould give us forty horses and forty

saddle bags of gold but that we must find our own wives," said the

youngest brother. "He will marry us all in one night, and he will pay

all the expenses of the wedding himself."

Very pleased with this news, they all went to the palace and took

their horses loaded with saddlebags of gold. They mounted their horses -*|

and set out in search of their future wives. They went for a s p r i n g ^ ^ ^ ;

and they went for an autunn, but they found that they had gone only +**»4*4

the length of a grain of barley. |>ne evening they reached a ruin intc^ * V*'**'^
¿H 1
which they pulled their horses, dismounted, and prepared to sleep. ^ ^ ri»
They all fell asleep except the yolungest, and he drew his sword and

stood behind the

the door. tfVL

In the middle of the night, al seven-headed female giant entered

the ruin. She was so large that the forty of them would not have made __

forty mouthfuls for her, but the youngest brother managed to drive

her off. She went away but soon she returned with her children, forty

sons and forty daughters, all of them giants. The youngest son stood

at the doorway, and as each giant ¡¡stepped through it, he killed him. £****-

Finally he had killed them all exciept their mother, the seven-headed

giant, and there was a huge mound ¡of bodies heaped inside the entrance^*»

of the ruin. She ran away, and tt|e youngest son chased her. She £*+4+ i
a iv* r
Jumped into a well, where she lived, and the boy went after her. At *

the bottom of the well, she said ifo him, "I have lost forty sons and — ju.irfutf

forty daughters. Don't kill me. Here are forty keys to forty rooms in

which you will find forty girls to marry. Take these and spare my life."

The boy agreed to this, and taking the keys, he began to unlock

the doors of the forty rooms. After he had opened them all and taken

the forty girls from the forty rooms, he divided them among his brothers.

He told each girl which brother she was to marry.

 Story #20

Having done this, the bojr vent back to the m i n vith the girle.

He discovered that his brothers < 4 « all up. They vere surprised to see

the bodies of so many dead giant, heaped up inside the entrance of the

ruin. They all asked, ”«ho has done this?” Every brother except the

youngest swore that he was not responsible for the massacre, and they

then knew that it was he who had 4 » it. He then related to them what
had happened.

"While you were all asleep, a|aeven-headed female giant tried to

enter the ruin. When I drove her <j|ff, she returned with forty sons and

forty daughters. All of these s m s and daughters I killed, one by one,

as they tried to enter the ruin. Their mother then ran away and went

down the well where she lives. I ceased her down to the bottom, and

to marry. Take these and spare my life.’ I agreed to this, and then I
took the forty keys and opened the forty doors and found in them the

forty girls. *They shall be our wi-jres."

The brothers were all pleased +t this, and they went to the mouth

of the well. The youngest brother fent down into the well and released

thirty-nine of the girls. He took them up to the surface of the earth,

and he took the first girl and said to his eldest brother, "This one is

for you. And he took the second g|rl and presented her to his next

oldest brother and said, "This one ijs for you." And after he had in this

fashion distributed all the thirty-r|ine girls among his thirty-nine

brothers, he went back down the well] for the one whom he had saved for

himself.

Before he took her from this unjderground prison, he was addressed

by the female giant; "Please take with you," she said. "There is
Story #20

nothing here for me now. I shall be your (slaved your sweeper." He agreed

to this proposal.

They all mounted their horses, and each took his girl up behind him

on his horse. They started toward home, and the giantess followed them.

When they came to a marble column j|lying beside the road, the giantess
/ v i a ,. 4 / * ■ cd jz z :
addressed it saying, "Oh, Father-in-law, why are you lying there like __

that? I lost forty sons and fortfiji daughters." Upon this the horsemen
£a-v*>
were all surrounded by a high sto^e wall, and the King of the Giant^, f or2**-s

who was also seven-headed, came uj out of the earth and said to them,

"Came here! Which of you has 3latjghtered the children of this giantess?"

Each of them except the youngest t)rother swore that he had not done it,

but he was unable to swear. He admitted the deed and said farewell to

his brothers. He said to them, "]}f I reach heme safely, I shall marry

my sweetheart. If I do not reach||home, one of you can marry her." Then

his thirty-nine brothers and the iforty girls were allowed to proceed on

their journey.

After the brothers were gonej the King of the Giants said to the

boy, "I have a proposal to make tef you. If you can do what I tell you

to do, I shall let you go free. If you cannot, 1*11 eat you." The boy
'Ji.SK— •fi®
accepted the proposal, and the giant said to him, "You will burn me

in a large oven; then you will sweep together my ashes, put them in a

bag, and sprinkle them on that distant mountain." o - i '

The youngest brother pushed the giant into his oven, and when he -1

was completely burned up, he gathered the ashes together, put them in

a bag, and took them to the distant mountain, where he sprinkled them.

Having finished this task, he prepared to mount his horse to follow

his brothers, but at that moment he heard a cry: "Oh, gallant young
 53
Story #20

m«n, are you leaving? Where are j)ou going?" It was the voice of the

Kins the Giants, vho had cone tjack to life again. "Nov do you see

vhat I am capable of doing?" he asked.

"Yes, I do," answered the young man.

"I have another proposition,*] said the giant. "If you can accom­

plish this task, I shall let you ^o free; if you can't, I shall eat

you. I have been at var with a neighboring king for (forty years) The

object of our quarrel is his daughter, whom I want to marry. If you

can get this girl for me, I shall let you go."
r p .è .é J '^ u ep-t- ® "f"

The young man accepted this ]|roposition and, mounting his horse,
¿ehskA
rode to the apartment [peasant concept of a place where a king might live]

of that king. He knocked at the door of the apartment and told the king

that the purpose of his visit vas||to ask for the hand of his daughter

in marriage. Before reaching a decision, the king said to the young man

"You go out and walk around the palace once and then return." The young

man did not know that this king kljlled all those who came to ask for

his daughter but failed to fulfil]). the difficult tasks that the king

set for them. He had actually mace a huge mound of the skulls of the
j±s K U|Tii>i j'A.S K — — C <»•»—1^./«--^ ' • ~f-
J »1'men who had come and failed. -f -h- c{ # ■ / • « . o ~f~
S*
t. When the young man returned, the king told him that he was going
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, t° to be given a difficult task tha^ he had to accomplish in one night.
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"I shall give you my daughter if ou can plow a field of a hundred acres,*

sow it, and gather the harvest ai.I in one night.

alfL But if you fail to t
iet —9
finish this work in one night, I iihall kill you." * ;l ***

The youngest brother accepted the challenge and started to work,

but before he had finished the pl«jjving, he fell asleep. Toward morning

he was told in a dream that an an1^ was coming to help him, and that he

should burn the grain of wheat th it the ant brought to him. He awoke,
j
•av the ant with the grain of wheat, and when he had burned this grain
1 -- T~e>
of wheat, all the ants in the world came to his aid. They finish plow- : £*>+

ing the field; then they sowed it;||and as morning approached, they
o ’f -foo **
gathered the harvest. It was all done in a very little time. *N« C.
5
When the king came to the field to see whether the work had all

teen done, he was amazed at what hjf saw, bu£_hft_flUlckly set another

task for the boy. "I shall have cauldrons of food brought for

you," he said, "and if you can eat ¡them all before tomorrow sit this

time you shall have my daughter, jif you can't eat them, I shall have Jaj/f — •
i j * ' £'7*-/W+
you killed." The boy accepted the challenge, and the forty cauldrons * * .
tt*. -
of food were brought and set before him. He took a mouthful from
1 •*’5 ^ 7
each cauldron, but soon he fell asleep. Toward the next morning, he
/
heard a voice in a dream which said to him, "Why don't you burn t h a t /
H e W ok& u ) * ; b a r n u t 4 h e hoJLr* -tkait u a s g iv 'tr v b b y Wie. b l a d e n T A f c j
hair that was given to you as a chiLid by the black Arab^ ^and lo! half

of the black men in the world appalired outside the room, breaking the H
/ j 4 a ^ ----
windows and the doors to get in. Itn no time, they had gobbled up all
I / __ i> -- “
of the food in the forty cauldron«). A lame Arab, whp/came late, said, ^

"Isn't there any food left for mei" They said,/iio." At that, the e>-t-
j ./ (A ** 6«) —
lame man scraped the bottoms of cauldr^hs, and he scraped so hard f.srx

that he made holes in them. Having eat^n all the food, the Arabs dis- ^ A a.rO-
appeared.

When the king came in the jrfoijjning, he was again amazed. "Let alone .
/k li­
the food in the cauldrons, ^ i s y< ung man has almost eaten up the

cauldrons themselves." /But the youngest son could not yet have the

daughter, for the k W set still fne more task. "I want one more

task to be performed. If you can;do this, you may have my daughter.

You must wrestle^with her tomorrow morning. If you defeat her, she

will be yours; if you do not, I snail send you to the(executione^.

Story JgQ
55

An announcement was made throughout the land that day that Oh the
tiny
next tne (ting’s daughter would wrestle with a young man. And at the
A

scheduled time on the following day, there were thousands of people wait­

ing to see the contest. It was a very exciting wrestling match, for

the two were good wrestlers. They wrestled for a long while, but toward

midday the young man seemed to he weakening. He was having great diffi­

culty with the king's daughter, who waa very powerful. Panting hard, he

called for a rest period; he said that he wanted to smoke'.tobacco.. His ^^ ^ ii'i

real purpose, however, was to burn another of the Arab's hairs, for he w** *J ‘
*■** (
Knew now that he could not defeat the girl without help. He burned the ^

hair with the tobacco, and out of nowhere the Arab appeared, -\ ■- v u ^ - ■■-

"Disappear frctn sight again," he said, "but stay here and help me ^ „>*— 7 J
■ A rj ^ ^
defeat this powerful girl in this wrestling contest." The Arab did
rfit **Jl>
he was cctnmanded, and when the two wrestlers fell to the ground, he
« irli
pulled the girl so that she was beneath the sultan’s son.

When the king saw that his daughter was defeated, he ordered that

the wedding be held at once. Since there had been no preparation for

their marriage, the two were not actually united after this ceremony

but lived apart first for three months. After this time had elapsed,

the young man went to the king and said, 11Ifour majesty, 1 am the son of

a ruler, too, a sultan. If you will let me, I should like to return now

to the land of my father,"

"You may go, my son," said the king, "but first tell me what you

wish from me,*

"I have nothing to wish for except that God may give you good health,

said the young man.

"There must be something that I can give you aa a farewell gift,"

said the ting.

 "You can give me a bed and a !{cart with horses, then, that I can

use in traveling home.” [When peasjants in Turkey travel— migrant workers

and those seeking employment particularly— they always carry their beds

with them, usually in form of mattress roll and blanket. This is true

even of peasants who came to Ankara seeking work. A sultan's son and a

king's son-in-law could probably ajfford to pay fbr suitable lodgings

along the road, but the peasant mi^d here ignores this fact.]

Ihe bed and horses and cart ware provided, as he had requested,

and the young man took his wife anjd started for heme. The girl did not

know that in fact the young man wa|s taking her to the giant in accordance

with the bargain he had made. Whejn he finally told her this, near the

giant's house, she threw herself d|own out of the cart, and she tried to

escape. But the giant had heard them coming and he had come out to wel­

come them, and he quickly caught the girl and held her fast.

"Well, my son," said the gianjt, "you have done well. You may go

now, and good luck to you."

But the young man was very scjrry for what he had done. He could

not keep his eyes off the girl. Be did not go far from the giant's

house, for he had now decided to t|ry to rescue the girl. He noticed

that each day the giant went hunting and did not return until evening,

and so one morning after the giantj had left, he went into the house

and said to the girl, "I am sorryj|for what I have done, but if you will

help me, we can kill the giant and escape. When he comes back this

evening, don’t give him any food ^nd don't speak to him. Pretend you

are angry with him. When he asks] 'What is the matter?' say, 'You leave

me alone in this house all day whljle you go and enjoy yourself.'"

The girl did as she was instructed, and when the giant heard this

complaint, he went to the forest |nd pulled up a large tree and brought

it to his house. He stood it against the door of her room find said to
her, "Look, there are bird nests ljji this tree, and there are young birds

in the nests. They will sing to y|>u and keep you company."

Next morning, as usual, he wejit hunting, and while he was gone,

the young man came to the house agj&in. When he saw the tree full of

birds that the giant had brought tj> entertain his wife, he said to her,

"When the giant comes home this evening, tell him that the twittering of

the birds made you sick and nervou^. Say to him, 'If you want me to

enjoy myself, tell me where you kejip your source of life so that I may

have its company.'"

When the giant came home thatjnight, the girl again looked moody

and sullen. When the giant asked |ier what was the matter, she said,

"I am angry with you because you brought that tree with the noisy birds

They drive me mad all day long. 3! am quite sick of them.

"Well, what shall I do to plej&se you, then?" asked the giant. L'4«_

"Show me where you keep your Life source so that I may have its ,-n
¿cr/«.* •'*' W
company," said the girl. U4.ta
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"When it rains," said the gi4bt, "three deer will come to drink \ e— ^ 1?. ~

water from a ditch in the forest, In the belly of the ye H o y deerj that

will stand toward the south I have! three naked lives hidden in three ^ ^

boxes. Take them and enjoy yourself with them." ,A0//„, dear'

The next morning the giant went to hunt again, and after he had

gone, the sultan's son came and asked his wife: "Did the giant tell ----- -

you where he keeps his life source]?"

"Yes," she said, "but there a|re three of them. When it rains,

three deer will come to drink water from a ditch in the forest. In the o . ,

belly of the yellow deer that wil| stand toward the south he has three ^

naked lives hidden in three boxes.! He said I should take these and S>^( (7,-i*-£*«.)■.

enjoy myself with them.'

Story #20 ss
Upon hearing all this from his wife, the young man vent and kept

watch for the deer. When they finally came to drink water, he aimed

an arrow at the yellow deer standing toward the south and killed it.

He cut open its belly and took outj the three boxes containing the three

naked lives of the giant and put l^is feet on them. As he was about to
(j'(fc-VA+- --jMI«
crush the three boxes, the giant appeared in a great rush, sweeping

along a whole cloud of dust and stones in his haste. He stopped before

he reached the young man and begged him: "Spare my naked lives, oh ^

gallant young man."

"May they be carried to helli|" said the sultan's son, and he

crushed the three boxes. Thus the| giant was killed and could not be

restored to life again.

The sultan's son returned to ||the giant's house and released his

wife. They then started for the y|oung man's home country, but first

they took as many valuable object^ as they could carry from the giant's

house. They proceeded to the young man's country, and when they arrived

there, they went immediately to ttye meadow which the forty sons had °

always used as a meeting place, ifken he reached this place, he found ^ $a>*-
I h
his thirty-nine brothers arguing <|ver the fortieth girl, the one whan c 4-

he had taken from the well of the (seven-headed giantess for himself,

When news reached the sultan (that his fortieth son had arrived

home, he announced the weddings of| all his sons. The youngest son

married both his sweethearts, and i|the wedding festivities lasted for

forty days and forty nights. And j|vhen they were concluded, the forty

sons of the sultan lived happily the rest of their lives.