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The Boy Who Became a Bulbul
There was a man who had a small daughter and son. He remarried a woman to be the children's stepmother. One day, the father and son went to collect firewood. The stepmother told them to lay a wager for whoever collects the most firewood should cut off the loser's head. The father and son agreed.
However, the son had collected more. The father lied about it and cut his son's head off and bought it for his wife who placed it into a pot. The daughter discovered this and told her Mulla who told the girl to gather her brother's bones, wash them in rose water, and bury them in the corner of the garden.
Seven days later, a bulbul appeared and sang about the brother. The bulbul sang and stole needles away from a needle maker. Then the bulbul sang and clapped the needles into the throat of the stepmother. Then the bulbul sang and stole a candy from a sweet maker. Lastly, the bulbul appeared before his sister and gave her the candy.
I like the creepiness from the story as well as the revenge.
Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer
One day, Muhammad was weaving when he saw two mice playing. He threw his shuttle and killed both of them. His co-workers applauded him and said he could be an archer. Believing them, Muhammad left and bought himself a bow and arrows. Then he ventured off into the desert and slept. A King horseman found him and convinced him to work for the king and fight in a war.
Of course, a war broke out and Muhammad was beckoned to fight though he didn't see the threat. He couldn't ride a horse and asked for his legs to be bound to the horse's belly. On his way to the battle, Muhammad's bridled slipped, and the horse galloped. Trying to steady himself, Muhammad grabbed onto a tree and pulled it up by its roots.
The opposing army was frightened and retreated, but the King's army defeated them. The King was grateful and appointed Muhammad to Command-in-Chief of the King's armies.
These types of stories are my favorite. The accidental heroes.
The City of Nothing-in-the-World
A girl went to the bazar with two eggs to trade for some ointment for her scraped shin. However, she lost the eggs. She grabbed a jinnu out of her pocket and gave to some people who made her a minaret out of a needle. She climbed the minaret and looked for the eggs. One of the eggs had changed into a hen. The other had turned into a cock.
She went for the cock but was of offered half a cow-load of their crop, which was rice. She had no way to carry it, so she killed a flea and made a loading bag from its skin and placed it on her cock's back. When her cock had a sore back, she was ordered to burn a walnut kernel and rub it on his back. When she awoke, a large walnut tree sprouted from the cock's back. She noticed the soil around it was good and planted melons. A watermelon had grown, but when she tried to cut it her knife was gone. So, the girl wrapped a towel around herself and went in looking for her knife, but she started to eat the melon. She saw a hair and tried to pull it out, but at the end of the hair, there was a camel leading rope where seven camels were attached. Her knife was tied to the tail of the last camel.
I liked the idea, but I don't like how the story wasn't cohesive. These almost seemed like separate events.
Bibliography:
The Boy Who Became a Bulbul translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer(1919)
Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer(1919)
The City-of-Nothing-in-the-World translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer(1919)
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