The Sultan's Adopted Son — A Domaniç Folk Tale

ℹ️ This is an English translation of a Turkish oral folk tale. Read the Turkish original here: Padişahın Evlatlığı — Domaniç Masalı.

This tale was collected in the Domaniç district of Kütahya, in western Anatolia. It appears in an academic article by Emin Ölmez, which applies Vladimir Propp’s method of tale analysis, as it was told by the source narrator Mediha Karataş.

Once there was, once there wasn’t, in the old days when the sieve was in the straw, there lived a man. This man had many sons. The sultan of the land, however, had no son of his own. The sultan wanted to adopt one of the man’s children. The man said to the sultan, “My sultan, this child is still small, he still nurses at his mother’s breast. Let him grow a little more, and I will send him to you.” The sultan agreed. Time passed, and the child grew up. His father wanted to send the boy to the sultan.

The boy set out on the road. As he made his way toward the sultan, a slave appeared before him. The boy was frightened of the slave and ran straight back to his father. “Father, just as I was going, a slave appeared before me and I couldn’t go on,” he said. A week later the boy set out again. The same slave appeared again and asked the boy, “Where are you going?” The boy said, “I am the sultan’s foster son, I am going to him.” The slave gave the boy whatever food he had and asked to accompany him on the road. The boy accepted.

The slave also gave the boy water to drink along the way. While they were mounting the horse, the slave, without the boy seeing, punctured the water skins. The food he had given the boy to eat was also the kind that would make him thirsty. They pulled the horse aside and stopped to eat. The boy ate all the food and grew very thirsty; when he finally turned to drink, he saw that there was no water left in the skins. The slave turned to him and said, “There is a well a little further ahead, let’s go there and drink from it.”

They arrived at the well. Just as the boy leaned over to drink, the slave pushed him into the well. The boy begged the slave to save him. The slave said, “I will save you from the well. But I have one condition. I will be the sultan’s foster son.” The boy agreed, and they set out and came before the sultan. The slave introduced himself as the foster son. The sultan was overjoyed, for now he had a son.

The sultan asked his new foster son, “My son, what do you wish of me?” The slave said, “Father, I wish to marry the beauty of the world.” The sultan said, “My son, she lives in a distant land, in her own palace. Reaching her and marrying her is no easy task.” At this the slave pointed to the boy beside him and said, “Then give the order — let this boy go and bring me the beauty of the world. If he does not bring her, take his head.” The sultan agreed.

The boy stood in a corner, sunk in dark thought. Just then an old woman came to him and said, “My son, tell me your trouble. Why are you so lost in thought?” The boy said, “Auntie, I must find the beauty of the world. If I cannot, the sultan will take my head.” The old woman said, “Is that all that troubles you so? Now go to your sultan and ask him for forty mules. Load these forty mules with forty sacks of barley and wheat. Set out with them. On the road you will come upon a colony of ants. Scatter the barley and wheat from the mules to the ants, and continue on your way. Further on, forty giants will appear before you; give them the forty mules as food. Continue on again, and a snake will appear before you. The snake will be about to eat a fish. At that moment, throw a stone at the snake and save the fish. At the end of this road you will reach the palace of the beauty of the world. Go, take her, and bring her back.”

The boy asked the sultan, just as the old woman had told him, for forty mules and forty sacks full of barley and wheat. The sultan gave him what he asked for. The boy set out on the road with what he had been given. On the way, just as the old woman had said, a colony of ants appeared before him. The boy scattered the barley and wheat from the sacks to the ants. The ants filled their bellies well. The king of the ants gave the boy an ant feather and said to him, “If ever trouble finds you, burn this feather, and wherever you are, we will come to you.”

The boy continued on his way. On the road he met the forty giants. He divided the forty mules among the forty giants as food. The giants filled their bellies well and gave the boy a giant’s feather. They said to him, “If ever trouble finds you, burn this feather and wherever you are, we will come to you.” The boy took the feather and continued on from where he had left off. Further along the road, this time he came upon the snake trying to eat the fish. He quickly threw a stone at the snake and saved the fish. The fish gave the boy one of its scales: “If ever trouble finds you, burn this scale. Wherever you are, I will come to you,” it said. The boy took the scale too and continued on his way.

He went a little, he went far, over hill and dale he went straight on. At last he reached the palace of the beauty of the world. The boy said to the beauty of the world, “I have come here to take you to our sultan. The sultan’s son wishes to marry you.” The beauty of the world said, “It is no easy matter to take me from here. I have three conditions for leaving this place. If you fulfill them, I will come with you to marry the sultan’s son. But if you cannot fulfill these three conditions, I will have your head taken.” And she told him her first condition: “My first condition is this: I will give you forty sacks of mixed barley and wheat. By morning, separate this mixture.” And she set the forty sacks of mixed barley and wheat before the boy.

The boy burned the ant feather the king of the ants had given him. All the ants came to him at once. The boy asked the ants to separate the barley to one side and the wheat to the other. The ants fulfilled his request in a short time. When morning came, the beauty of the world came to the boy. And what did she see but the barley separated on one side and the wheat on the other. At this the beauty of the world said to the boy, “Well done, you have accomplished your first task, now for the second. I will set exactly forty cauldrons of pilaf before you; by morning you must eat all forty cauldrons of pilaf.” And she left.

The boy immediately burned the feather the giants had given him. The forty giants came to him. The boy had the giants eat the forty cauldrons of pilaf. The next day the beauty of the world came to the boy and was greatly astonished to see the empty cauldrons: “Well done, you have accomplished the second task too, now for the third. I will throw the ring from my finger into the lake, and you must find this ring in the lake and bring it to me. If you accomplish this task as well, I will come with you to the sultan,” she said. She threw the ring into the lake and left.

The boy immediately burned the scale the fish had given him. The fish came to the boy. The boy asked the fish to find the ring in the lake. The fish went into the lake and found the ring the beauty of the world had thrown, and brought it to the boy. The next day the beauty of the world came to the boy. She was greatly astonished to see the ring in the boy’s hand. As she had promised the boy, she set out with him to marry the sultan’s son. The boy brought the beauty of the world before the sultan.

The sultan sent word to the seven lands to prepare for the wedding of the beauty of the world and the slave. The boy watched all that was happening, helpless. Because the boy had carried out the tasks successfully, the slave began to fear him. He ordered his men to kill the boy. The slave’s men found the boy and killed him. They hung each piece of the boy’s body in a different part of the city.

The beauty of the world grew curious about the boy who had brought her here and wished to see him. The beauty of the world’s servants told her that the sultan’s son had had him killed. The beauty of the world became very angry at this and gave an order to those around her. By the beauty of the world’s command, every piece of the boy’s body was gathered and brought before her. It turned out that the lake beside the beauty of the world’s palace was made of the water of life. The beauty of the world brought a little of this water and poured it at once over the pieces. The pieces joined together in an instant and the boy came back to life.

The boy told the beauty of the world everything that had happened to him. The beauty of the world went before the sultan and told of the slave’s treachery. She said that this boy was his true son. The sultan grew very angry and at once ordered his vizier to bring the boy. The vizier brought the boy before the sultan with his soldiers. The sultan asked the slave, “Do you want forty mules, or forty blades?” The slave chose the forty mules. The sultan tied the slave behind the forty mules, and the forty mules galloped off at a run.

The sultan was reunited with his foster son and married him to the beauty of the world he deserved. They reached their heart’s desire; let us climb onto our own divan. It was only last week that I was at their wedding, and they send you their greetings.

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Source

Ölmez, E. (2015). “Vladimir Propp’un Masal Çözümleme Metodu Çerçevesinde ‘Padişahın Evlatlığı’ Masalı Üzerine Bir İnceleme” [A Study of the Tale “The Sultan’s Foster Son” within the Framework of Vladimir Propp’s Method of Tale Analysis]. Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 533–541. DOI: 10.18026/cbusos.03347