Keloglan and the Giants of the Well

Once upon a time, a sultan had three daughters. One day, as the girls were walking in the garden, the earth split open and a giant came out and carried all three of them off to the kingdom beneath a well. The sultan sent word to every corner of his land: "Whoever brings back my daughters shall be my son-in-law."

Keloglan went to the edge of that well with two of his friends. The well was so deep that its bottom could not be seen. One friend said, "I'll go down." They tied a rope around his waist and lowered him. Halfway down he got scared and shouted, "Pull me up!" The second went down, and he got scared halfway too. Then it was Keloglan's turn. "Even if I shout 'pull me up', don't pull. Lower me all the way to the bottom," he said.

When Keloglan reached the bottom of the well, he came to a completely different world. There too were sky, trees and streams, but everything was lit by a pale light. In a pavilion he found the sultan's eldest daughter. "A seven-headed giant guards me," she said. "He's asleep now. When his eyes are red, he's awake; when they're green, he's asleep." Keloglan went to the giant; his eyes were green. Keloglan took the sword from beside the giant's head and wound the giant's own chains around him. When the giant woke and could not get up, he surrendered to Keloglan.

He found the middle daughter in another pavilion and the youngest in yet another. A giant guarded each of them. Keloglan beat one with a riddle and sent the other to sleep by singing songs until morning. He brought the three girls to the bottom of the well, tied them to the rope and sent them up. But when he finally tied himself on, his friends cut the rope out of jealousy. "We'll say we rescued the girls," they thought.

Keloglan was left alone in the underground kingdom. As he wandered sadly, he saw a snake climbing a great tree towards a nest at the top. In the nest, huge, colourful chicks were squawking. Keloglan drove the snake away with his stick. After a while the sky went dark and a giant bird came down: the Simurgh! Its chicks told it that Keloglan had saved them.

"Ask me for whatever you wish," said the Simurgh. "Take me up to the world above," said Keloglan. "I will, but it's a long way," said the Simurgh. "I'll need forty pieces of meat and forty skins of water. Whenever I say 'gak', give me meat, and whenever I say 'guk', give me water." Keloglan gathered meat and water from the villages and climbed onto the Simurgh's back. As the bird rose, it said 'gak' and Keloglan gave it meat; it said 'guk' and he gave it water.

When they were very close to the world above, the meat ran out. The Simurgh said 'gak'. Keloglan did not hesitate for a moment; he cut a small piece from his own leg and gave it to the bird. The bird realised it was not ordinary meat and hid it under its tongue. When they reached the world above, it set Keloglan down, put the hidden piece back in its place and stroked it with its wing. The leg was as good as new. "I have never seen such a selfless heart," said the Simurgh, and gave Keloglan three of its feathers: "If you're ever in trouble, burn one."

When Keloglan reached the palace, he found his two friends getting ready to marry the younger princesses. But the youngest princess was crying: "These are not the ones who rescued me." Keloglan went into the palace. When the girl saw him, she ran and took his hand: "This is the one who rescued me!" His friends had to admit that they had lied.

The sultan made Keloglan his son-in-law. His friends were so ashamed that they left the land. The wedding lasted forty days and forty nights. On the last night of the wedding Keloglan burned a feather, and the Simurgh and its chicks circled in the sky to greet the wedding.

Three apples fell from the sky: one for the one who told this tale, one for the one who listened, and one for Keloglan, who was ready to give even a piece of himself.