Story #114

(F irst 3/4 on Tape 18, flip s id e ; Narrator; Bekir Szdiler

la st 1/4 mailed in by muhtar, Location; (Jamalan, near Tarsus
Duran (Jatal) Date; March 1962

The Faithful Wife o f the Padi^ah's Son

There was once a padi^ah who had a son named Ahmet. When the son grew

up and came o f an age to marry, his father asked him, "Would you lik e to

marry the daughter of such-and-such a padi^ah?"

"No," answered his son

Well, then," said his fath er, 'would you prefer the daughter o f some
other padi^ah?"

"No," answered the son, "but there is a g ir l o f our own v illa g e , the

daughter of a poor man, and I should lik e to marry thajt g i r l . "

So the padi^ah went to the home o f the poor man and formally requested

the hand o f his daughter fo r the son. A wedding was arranged that lasted for
forty days and forty nights.

It was not long a fter the wedding that the padi^ah and his w ife both

died, and so the son became the new padi^ah. He lived with his w ife in his

father s house, and he carried on his fa th e r's a ffa irs as best he could.

One night when he was lying in bed with his w ife , the young man noticed

some papers attached to the c e ilin g . They climbed up and took down the

bundle o f papers and examined them. They discovered that these papers were

t it le deeds for(property), such as (mxU^and fa c t o r ie s , which his father had

owned atrAnkara^-*- He decided to go and take charge o f these pieces o f property

Ankara is not an in du strial c it y , but fo r Anatolian peasants i t is

imagined to be the proper s it e of anything new, d iffe r e n t, or modem.
Story #114

as soon as p os s ib le , and so next morning he got on his horse and set out

for the c ity . He said to his w ife , " I f I do not return within a month's time

start searching for me

He went a l i t t l e way, he went a great way, he went over h i l l s and plains

and fin a lly he reached Ankara. He pulled in at a h otel fo r the night, and he

showed the h otel keeper the documents which he had brought with him.^ The

young man learned that the manager of his m ills and fa cto rie s was an^Arajj) who

was a cruel and oppressive fe llo w ; the people o f Ankara hated him, and they

would be happy to learn that the owner o f the m ills had come to r e lie v e them

from the tyranny o f this Arab. The Arab manager had become very rich while

operating these m ills

When the Arab learned who Ahmet was, he said to him, "Why did you re g is­

ter in a h otel? You could have been my guest in stead ." The Arab brought

food and drinks, and they sat down to talk . "What padisah's daughter did

you marry?" asked the Arab. "Was i t such-and-such a one, or was i t such-and-

such another one?"

"N either," answered Ahmet. " I married the daughte^ o f such-and-such a

poor man in our v illa g e ."

"You don't say s o !" exclaimed the Arab. "By Allah, the daughter of

that man is an old mistress of mine."

The joung man found this unbelievable. " I f you can prove th a t," he

Than I sh all I sh a ll o ffe r every

passerby a drink of water; thgn I sh a ll give him f iv , ^ and I sh a ll

2The peasant coming to Ankara probably would show such documents to an

inn keeper.

^A kurusft is a hundredth part o f a lir a . I t is now worth about a tenth

of an American cent.
Story #114

ask him to slap me on the back of the neck."

The Arab manager was not sure that he meant th is , but he decided to find

out. He f i l l e d a saddle bag with gold, mounted his horse, and set out for

the v illa g e of the young padisah. When he arrived there, he stopped at the

house o f an old woman and asked her, "W ill you house me here fo r the night?"

"No, son," she said , "I have no room in my small home.

The Arab pulled some gold from his saddle bag and gave i t to her. When

the old woman saw the gold she was glad enough to accept the Arab as her

guest. After he had entered her house and sat down, she said to him, "T e ll

me what i t is that brings you to this v illa g e ."

The Arab told her why he had come and he said to her, " I f I can take away

from here any a r t ic le belonging to the w ife of the new padisah, he w ill give

me a ll o f his property."

The old woman was a very wicked person and she was known to be

She said to the Arab, "I sh a ll t e l l the woman that I am going to Mecca and

that 1 want to leave my possessions in her care in a larg You can

hids in this trunk, and then you can come out o f i t at night and s te a l what­

ever a r tic le s you want from her bedroom."

The old woman hid the Arab in her trunk and had i t carried to the home

of the padisah. At the gate they were stopped by the old man who had been

hired by the padisah as his guard. The old man knew that the woman was an

e v il person, and he started beating her.

The w ife of the padipah heard the noise and looked out the window. She

shouted down to the guard, "Don't beat her! She is only an old woman. So

the witch l e f t her trunk, with the Arab in i t , at the home of Ahmet's w ife.

about midnight, the Arab crawled

Story #114

out o f the trunk. He took a (^andker c h ie ^ from her clothes. He came close

to the sleeping woman. He noticed through the very thin night clothes that

she was wearing a mole on her breast. Then he climbed back into the trunk

and waited fo r the morning.

In the morning the witch returned. She said to the w ife o f the padisah,

"The pilgrim s would not le t me jo in them in their trip to Mecca. I have come

to take back my trunk."

A fter he was released from the trunk, the Arab paid the witch a few more

gold coin s, and then he rode back to Ankara. When he found Ahmet, he said to

him, " I have ju st returned from a night with your w ife. Here is a handker­

ch ie f that she gave me."

Ahmet recognized the handkerchief as his w if e 's , but he s t i l l doubted

the Arab. "Do you have any other proof?" he asked.

"W ell," said the Arab, "I noticed la s t night that your w ife had a mole

on her b re a s t."

When he heard t h is , Ahmet was persuaded that his w ife had been u n faith ful

to him. He turned over to the Arab a l l his property, including the su it that

he was wearing. He put on old clothes and started work in Ankara as a water

carrier.

A fter a month had elapsed, Ahmet's w ife decided to go in search o f her

husband. She said to the old man who guarded the gate, "Father, I must go in

search o f my husband. Bring me a good horse fo r my trip .

Zj.
■ In Turkish folk ta les a handkerchief is a more personal and cherished
memento than i t is in real l i f e . Their owners can always, somehow, be iden­
t i f i e d , and they suggest as convincing evidence of in fid e lit y as did that o f
Desdemona.
Story #114

The old man brought her a horse, but he complained, "F irst the padisah

leaves and now you are going away, to o ."

The w ife dressed as a man, mounted her horse, and started riding toward

Ankara. Passing through a v illa g e , she saw a shoemaker at work in his shop.

She stopped to watch him at work, and while she watched, she heard a loud

moaning sound coming from the nearby mountains. "Who is that moaning so

loud?" she asked.

"That is my son," said the shoemaker.

carries from the mountains fiv e tons of wood each day and delivers i t at the

home of the baker. For this he is given a whole oven f u ll He

spends a l l his spare time eating bread, fo r he has an enormous a p p etite."

"Would you be w illin g to place him in my care?" asked the w ife.

"How would you manage to feed him?" asked the shoemaker.

"Don't worry about that. I sh a ll keep him w ell fe d ," she said.

The shoemaker gave Hasan the Mad to the w ife o f tljie padisah. She bought

forty mule loads o f bread, mounted Hasan the Mad on a horse, and started again

for Ankara. She rode in fro n t, and Hasan rode along behind her. After a

while Hasan became very hungry, and so he dismounted from his horse and started

to walk back to his v illa g e . When the woman saw this she shouted, "Hasan,

where are you going?"

" I am going home," he said. " I am hungry!"

"But the bread loaded on these fo rty mules is a ll fo r you," she

explained to him. When he heard th is , Hasan ate two mule loads o f bread at

once. Then he mounted his horse again and rode along behind the w ife of the

padisah.

On the way they came to a fla t piece o f grassy ground. I t was a

S t o r y #114

p a s t u r e , and they s t o p p e d th ere to r e s t and to a l lo w t h e i r anim als t o g r a z e .

The woman s l e p t and Ahmet took some c l a y and began making a cup from which

h i s m a ster might d rin k c o f f e e . W hile he was working on the cup, t h r e e guards

came up to him. "How dare you l e t y o u r anim als g ra z e h e r e ? Why, even b i r d s

3re not p e r m it t e d to land on t h i s p a s t u r e ! "

" P l e a s e do not make s o much n o i s e , " s a i d Hasan the Mad, " o r you w i l l

awaken my m a s t e r . " Then he wrapped h i s arm around a t r e e and t o r e i t up by

the rooL s, He b e a t the th r e e guards t o death w ith t h i s c l u b .

When the w i f e o f the padi^ah woke up she saw the dead b o d i e s n ea rb y .

She was p l e a s e d w ith Hasan the Mad, f o r she knew that he was the k in d o f

serva n t she needed. They c o n t in u e d on t h e i r j o u r n e y , and a t l a s t they

rea ched Ankara.

Hasan p u l l e d in at an inn w ith the mules and the w i f e went i n s e a r c h o f

her husband. B e fo r e she l e f t Hasan she t o l d him tu buy a batman o f v i n t a g e

w ine, a batman o f l e b l e b i , and a batman o f n u t s ; she gave him the money

necessa ry tu buy th e s e t h i n g s .

The w i f e o f the padi^ah found the form er p a d isah s e l l i n g w ater buL

g iv in g money t o the b u yers i n s Lead o f ta k in g money from them. To each

person he gave f i v e kurush and then lie s t r e t c h e d out h i s neck to be s la p p e d .

/

The w ater s e l l e r d id n o t r e c o g n i z e h i s w i f e , f o r she was d re s s e d as a man.

" W i l l you g i v e me a d r in k o f w a t e r ? " she asked.

Ahmet s t i l l d i d not r e c o g n i z e h i s w i f e , so he gave h er a cup o f w a te r

and f i v e kurush. When h i s w i f e asked what the f i v e kurush were f o r . Ahmet

— ------ r --------- -j

said to h e r , "You j u s t take y o u r f i v e kurush and go y o u r way. Many t h in g s

have happened t o me and I have s u f f e r e d g r e a t l o s s e s . "

Story #114

The whole episode was repeated again next day. This time, however, the

woman said to Ahmet, "Who are you and where do you liv e ? "

"I liv e at the inn at the end o f this s tr e e t ," he said.

"I am staying there a ls o ," said his w ife , "and tonight I should be

pleased i f you would dine with me."

Ahmet dined with his w ife, and when the meal was over they drank from

the vintage wine, ate le b le b i,^ and chewed on the nuts that Hasan the Mad had

bought. A fter they had talked fo r a w hile, Ahmet’ s w ife said to him, "T e ll
¿L

me the story o f your l i f e . " 0

Ahmet told her his story. "When I f i r s t came to Ankara, I was eating

and drinking with a certain man. He said he could seduce any woman in the

world. I said that he could not seduce my w ife. He then asked me who my

wife was and where she liv ed . When I gave him this information, he sa id ,

'Oh, she is a former mistress o f m ine.' I said that i f he could prove that,

I would give him a ll o f my property in Ankara as w ell as the su it o f clothes

that I was wearing. Then I would become a water ca rrie r, I sa id , and give

five kurus# to everyone who took a cup o f my water, and I would le t that

person slap me on the back of the neck."

"How did the man prove that your w ife was his m istress?" asked the w ife

of the former padi^ah.

"He brought me a handkerchief that I had given h e r," said Ahmet.

"He may have stolen i t , " said the woman.

5Leblebi are roasted chick peas. They are eaten in Turkey as hors
d'oeuvres; more often they are served with ra k i, the fa v orite after-dinn er
cordial. The fa ct that Ataturk ate le b le b i with his rakx has undoubtedly
added greatly to their popularity among Turks.

°In Turkey, where people while away long hours in le isu re ly conversation,
one is often asked to t e l l his l i f e story.
Story #114

"But he proved i t in another way, tc|o," said Ahmet, and here he slapped

his knees in g r ie f.

"How was that?" asked his w ife.

"He told me something aboht my wife'|s body that nobody but her lover
could know."

"What was that?" asked the woman

"He told me that my w ife ljias a mole |on her breast, and this is true. On

her l e f t breast there is a large mole. A|nd so I gave the man, who is an

Arab, a l l of my property, and then I becajne a water c a r r ie r ."

The next day the woman fohnd the nam|e and address o f the Arab, and she

invited him to come to her inn to dinner. When the Arab came, he did not

suspect that his host was rea lly a woman. They ate and drank fo r some time,

and then the w ife o f the former padi^ah asked the Arab, "T e ll me, how did

you attain a l l o f your great wealth?"

The Arab told her this story. "Ther^ is a man in this c ity who is a

water ca rrie r, but once he was the son o f a padi^ah. I made friends with

him when he came to Ankara to inspect his fa cto rie s here. I knew his father,

and I was the manager o f his fa cto r ie s , ^ fte r I became acquainted with him

I said that I could seduc~e any woman on earth. He said that I could not

seduce his w ife. I asked him who his wif^ was and where she liv e d . When he

gave me this information, I sa id , 'Oh, I know her. She is a former mistress

of mine.' He said that i f I cbuld prove ^hat, he would give me a ll o f his

property here in Ankara, including the.su|it that he was wearing."

"Did you seduce his w ife?" asked the woman.

"No, but he believed that I had done s o ," said the Arab, "and that is

why a ll his property became mine."

Story #114

Why did this padi^ah's son think you had seduced his w ife?" she asked.

I went to his v illa g e ," said the Arab. "There I told my story to an

old woman who was a witch. For some gold, she had me carried, in a trunk,

into the house of this man's w ife. During the night, I climbed out o f the

trunk and s to le a handkerchief from her clothing. The moonlight f e l l upon

her as she s le p t, and her night clothes were so thin that I could see a large

mole on her breast. Then I climbed back into the trunk and was carried back

to the home of the witch. I gave the old woman some more gold, and then I

returned to Ankara. When I gave the padi^ah's son the handkerchief o f his

w ife, he s t i l l refused to b elieve that I had seduced his w ife. But when I

told him that she had a mole on her breast, he believed me."

After the Arab had finished his story, the w ife o f the padi^ah said to

him, "Let us playi^p is h tj^^ I f you win, I sh a ll give you this bag o f gold.

I f I win, I sh a ll stamp my^sea^bn your buttocks."

The Arab agreed to this and so they played p is h t i. She won three

successive times, and the woman stamped her seal on his buttocks.

The follow ing morning the woman went to ^ jcadx^ n d complained that the

Arab had cheated her husband out o f his fo r t u n e .T h e kadq had the Arab

summoned to the court and he then asked him i f he had cheated such-and-such

water ca rrier out o f his property.

" I have done nothing o f the s o rt, e fe n d i," said the Arab.

"How can you prove your claim?" the kadi asked the woman.

" I am really a woman," said the w ife o f the padisah.'Cand the water

carrier is my husband. While my husband was away from home this Arab had

himself carried secretly in to my bedroom in a trunk. He then s to le a hand-

' P ish ti is a simple card game enjoyed by Turks.

Story #114

kerchief and observed a mole on my breast. He took the handkerchief to my

husband and told him o f the mole on my breast. He did this to make my hus­

band b eliev e that he had slep t with me. In this way he received my husband's

property in Ankara, fo r my husband had wagered that the Arab could not

seduce me."

"Were you carried into this woman's room in a chest?" asked the k a d i -

"No, efen di, I never was," said the Arab.

The kadi then demanded that the witch who owned the trunk be summoned.

Two days la ter she appeared before him, and he asked her, "Did you or did

you not have this man carried , in a trunk, into the home o f this woman?"

When the old woman said nothing, the kadi, said , " I sh a ll give you a handful

o f gold whatever your answer i s , but you must answer."

"Yes, this is the man," the witch said.

The kadi then asked the w ife o f the padi^ah, "How did you recognize

this man when you saw him?"

" I have my seal stamped on his bu ttock s," she answered.

The Arab's buttocks were examined, and the kadi was s a t is fie d that the

woman's seal was stamped on them. The kadi ruled that the water ca rrie r

should have a l l o f his property returned to him, and a fte r that he and his

wife were united again and liv ed happily.