reading notes turkish fairy tales B

 1. Patience Stone and Patience Knife, Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos

This story had a full circle component to it which i enjoyed. The story started out with a bird telling the maiden "your kismet is with a dead person" and at the end the same bird flies by and says "Oh happy maiden you have found your kismet" 

Kismet is a new term/concept to me and I liked reading about it. I think retelling this story could be challenging because it has so many minor details that are important to the full story. These are a few of my favorite details: the repetitive arrival of the mysterious bird/omen, the girls going to play in the meadow and the giant wall popping up (maybe a canyon instread?), entering the palace and seeing 40 keys on a wall (is 40 an important number or ....), looking through all the rooms filled with jewels and then finding the prince in the last one (sleeping beauty vibe), the stranger stealing the credit, and finally she asked the stone if you can't bear it as a stone how can I bear it as a human and tries to stab herself. 

2. The Imp of the Well, Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos

a man, finally fed up with his nagging, greedy, shrew of a wife, leaves her and goes into the mountains and begins woodworking. the wife follows him, and tips over into a well. the man, almost thankful that she's gone, returns home. the day he is feeling remorse for his wife, throws down a rope and tells her to grab on. Instead of his wife, he pulls up an Imp. the imp is thankful for being rescued from the woman who pinched his ears and tells his rescuer that the king's daughter will become sick, he will possess her and the man is the only one with the cure, 3 leaves. after all physicians, medicine men and astrologist try to save the daughter, the man remembers what the imp said and gave him. he goes to the palace and places the leaves on the forehead of the daughter, her pain is gone like it was never there and they are to wed. in the neighboring kingdom, the princess became ill as well, the imp made his way into her. the king tells the other king of how the woodworker saved his daughter and promises he will save his too. the man has no choice but to go, places the leaves on the forehead of the other princess. the imp is irritated it seems and tells the man he has to pick which princess he wants, and which princess the imp can have to embody. the man tells him he doesn't want either, and that the women in the well had escaped, never leaves him alone and followed him. this was enough to scare the imp into running away without questioning the woodworker. 

3. The Soothsayer,  Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos

in this story, the soothsayer got his credibility by tricks and luck. I think this is something to consider, what it looks like on the outside isn't always the whole story. The man had help to become the chief soothsayer, first the scheme at the bath and then servant confessing her guilt to him because she was scared. He told her exactly what to do with the stolen ring and the next day he is perceived as a hero. 

many of these stories have meadows mentioned in them and I think they're a great way to set the scene
Source: WIKIMEDIA Commons