Week 5 Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales, Part A

 

"Fear" Source

Fear:

    This story is different than the others that I have read so far this semester. It has a different writing style and seems to rush through the story, however, that might just be because it is being translated from a different language. I do like it though. The story kept me on my toes and had a lot of suspense. It begins with a mother who tells her son to close the door because she is fearful of something. The son is curious as to what fear is, so he goes to find it. he happens upon a group of robbers, who the boy is not fearful of, and the robbers are surprised that he isn't scared. So the robbers tell the boy to go to a cemetery and make helwa, which is a type of sweet. So the boy goes and while he is there a hand appears from the ground asking for some helwa, but the boy is not scared and he returns to the robbers. They were amazed that he was not scared so they told him to go to a lonely building that was nearby to find fear. So the boy went and found a child who was crying atop a raised platform and a maiden who was trying to get the child down. The maiden climbed upon the boy's shoulders in order to reach the crying child and she began to squeeze her legs on the boy's neck trying to strangle him, but the boy was not scared and shrugged her off. The boy eventually happened upon the coast and looked over the water to see a boat being tossed in the waves. He jumped in the water and found the Daughter of the Sea aggressively swaying the boat to and fro so the boys hit her out of the way and saved the men on the boat. The boy dried off and went to rest in a garden when three pigeons appeared and transformed into maidens who sought a boy who had no fear, so the boy spoke up and said that was him. 

Fear (cont.):

    The boy soon happened upon a large group of people in the town and was curious about what was happening and asked the people. They told him that they are crowning a new king and that whoever the pigeons landed on would be the new king. When the ceremony commenced all three pigeons landed on the boy's head. The boy would now become king, however, he did not wish to be king because he was still searching for what fear was. So the late king's wife made him a deal that she would show him what fear was if he stayed just one night at the castle, so the boy agreed. The wife told the cooks to put a live bird in the soup of the boy for the morning so that the bird would scare the boy when he lifted the lid, and that is exactly what happened. The boy learned what fear was and remained the king. 

Bibliography: "Forty-four Turkish Tales" by Ignacz Kunos