Jengidilaver

A sultan had three sons and one daughter. After the sultan died, the eldest son took the throne. One night the young girl heard a voice in her dream: "You cannot be happy until you find Jengidilaver." Nobody knew what Jengidilaver was; a bird, a tree, a person?

The eldest brother set out and came back empty-handed a year later. The middle one too. The youngest, Prince Mehmet, said, "I will find it." On the road an old man told him: "Jengidilaver is in a palace on top of the mountain of light at the end of the world. A giant guards the palace gate; you cannot kill the giant, but you can put him to sleep: tell him his own name. Once inside the palace, everything will speak to you; answer none of them."

The prince reached the mountain. The giant roared. The prince said, "Your name is Gurguman." When the giant heard his name, his eyes closed. The prince went into the palace. The walls spoke: "Prince, look at us!" The carpets said, "Walk on us!" He did not speak. At last, in one room, he found a golden cage, and in the cage a green bird. The bird said, "I am Jengidilaver. Take me, but don't take the cage; the cage screams." The prince took the bird and left the cage.

On the way back his two brothers grew jealous; they took the bird from him and threw him into a well. They reached the palace and said, "We found Jengidilaver." But the bird was silent; it did not sing, it did not eat. Their sister wept.

A caravan rescued the prince from the well. He returned to the palace disguised as a shepherd. The moment the bird saw him it began to sing; such a song that the whole palace garden burst into flower. The brothers turned scarlet and confessed the truth. Their sister laughed at Jengidilaver's song.

The prince forgave his brothers. Jengidilaver sang at the window every morning. And nobody in that palace ever told a lie again; because Jengidilaver fell silent whenever it heard a lie.