The Whole Collection

Folk Tale Archive

18 tales translated into English so far, from 9 regions. The Turkish archive holds many more and this section grows every week.

Translations are faithful rather than smoothed: where a phrase has no English counterpart, it is kept and explained in a footnote instead of being replaced.See the full Turkish archive

Index by Region

All Tales

18 September 2026

Lemon Girl — Yukarıçukurova Folk Tale

A Turkish folk tale from Yukarıçukurova: a girl born from a lemon, a Gypsy girl's trickery, and a dove revealing the truth. Told in dialect.

5 min readRead the Tale

18 September 2026

The Hodja's Wit — A Gölcük (Kocaeli) Folk Tale

A Turkish folk tale from Kocaeli/Gölcük: a gold-dropping donkey, a reviving flute, and a hodja who outwits the Seven Yellow Brothers.

16 min readRead the Tale

18 September 2026

The Sultan's Adopted Son — A Domaniç Folk Tale

A Turkish folk tale from Domaniç, Kütahya: a loyal boy's betrayal, his quest for the world's beauty, and the sultan's reunion with his true son.

10 min readRead the Tale

22 August 2026

The Yellow Ox — A Karaman Folk Tale

A Karaman folk tale: two stepsisters, a magical yellow ox, and a golden shoe. Full translated text as told by Vahap Aras, with sources and Turkish original.

14 min readRead the Tale

20 August 2026

A Şahmaran Tale from the Arabian Nights

An English translation of a long Şahmaran (serpent-queen) tale from the Turkish "Binbir Gece Masalları" (Arabian Nights) tradition: a lazy boy named Hasip Keramüddin is abandoned i

59 min readRead the Tale

20 August 2026

Mirza Mıhemede — A Muş Folk Tale

A short folk tale from the Muş region: the youngest of three brothers stays awake to guard the family's apple tree, follows a thief into a cave, and wins brides for himself and his

5 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

Keloğlan Goes to Buy Nothing — An Anatolian Folk Tale

Keloğlan is sent to buy hiç — a word meaning both "nothing" and "salt." A wordplay tale from the Anatolian Keloğlan cycle.

12 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

Salt — A Turkish Folk Tale

A padishah asks his three sons how much they love him. The youngest answers: "as much as salt." A Turkish folk tale collected by Naki Tezel.

12 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

The Anka Bird — A Khorasan Folk Tale

A div steals the jewelled pomegranates from a sultan’s tree each year. The youngest son follows him down a well into the world below. A Khorasan tale of the Anka bird.

20 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

The Dung Beetle — An Anatolian Folk Tale

A dung beetle sets out to find a husband, insisting on being addressed by her grand rhyming name. An Anatolian animal tale collected by Pertev Naili Boratav.

6 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

The Hungry Tiger — An Uyghur Buddhist Tale

An Old Uyghur Buddhist tale from the Altun Yaruk Sudur: three princes come upon a starving tigress in the forest, and the youngest gives up his own body to save her and her cubs —

22 min readRead the Tale

19 August 2026

The Tailless Fox — A Khorasan Folk Tale

A fox loses his tail to an old woman’s pitch-smeared bowl, and must work backwards through a chain of creatures to win it back. A Khorasan chain tale.

6 min readRead the Tale

26 May 2024

The Seven-Headed Dragon — A Yozgat Folk Tale

A Yozgat tale from Namık Aslan's thesis on the motifs and types of Yozgat folk tales: a schoolboy sets out with a staff cut from a holy thornbush to take his sister back from a seven-headed dev, and ends up seven layers beneath the earth.

31 min readRead the Tale

25 December 2023

The Weeping Pomegranate and the Laughing Quince — An Anatolian Folk Tale

An Anatolian tale from Tahir Alangu's Billur Köşk collection: a padishah's tenth daughter, raised in secret as a son, rides out on a black horse and wins a destiny of her own.

73 min readRead the Tale

17 December 2019

The Golden Nightingale — A Turkish Folk Tale

A Turkish tale from Naki Tezel's collection: Hızır tells a padishah that his new mosque wants a golden nightingale from beyond Mount Kaf, and the youngest of three sons rides out to fetch it.

72 min readRead the Tale

3 November 2019

The Wolf — A Kastamonu Folk Tale

A short Kastamonu animal tale, recorded from Sait Tekin: a hungry wolf swears to eat the first animal he meets on the road, and is talked out of his dinner three times running.

7 min readRead the Tale

8 July 2019

The Basil Girl — A Kazdağı Folk Tale

A Kazdağı tale recorded from Şerife Nine: three orphaned sisters dig up nine jars of gold under a basil plant, and the youngest answers a prince's teasing riddle with one of her own.

7 min readRead the Tale

9 June 2019

The Vizier of the King of the Monkeys — From Kalila and Dimna

A tale from the Kalila and Dimna cycle: the bears sack the monkeys' island, and the monkey king's vizier takes his revenge with nothing but a lie and a long walk into the desert.

8 min readRead the Tale

Folk Tale Archive

Index by Region

Anatolian Folk Tales

Persian Folk Tales

Turkic World Folk Tales

Indian Folk Tales

All Tales

Lemon Girl — Yukarıçukurova Folk Tale

The Hodja's Wit — A Gölcük (Kocaeli) Folk Tale

The Sultan's Adopted Son — A Domaniç Folk Tale

The Yellow Ox — A Karaman Folk Tale

A Şahmaran Tale from the Arabian Nights

Mirza Mıhemede — A Muş Folk Tale

Keloğlan Goes to Buy Nothing — An Anatolian Folk Tale

Salt — A Turkish Folk Tale

The Anka Bird — A Khorasan Folk Tale

The Dung Beetle — An Anatolian Folk Tale

The Hungry Tiger — An Uyghur Buddhist Tale

The Tailless Fox — A Khorasan Folk Tale

The Seven-Headed Dragon — A Yozgat Folk Tale

The Weeping Pomegranate and the Laughing Quince — An Anatolian Folk Tale

The Golden Nightingale — A Turkish Folk Tale

The Wolf — A Kastamonu Folk Tale

The Basil Girl — A Kazdağı Folk Tale

The Vizier of the King of the Monkeys — From Kalila and Dimna