Keloglan and the Magic Tablecloth

Once upon a time, as Keloglan was carrying a tray of flour his mother had given him, a huge gust of wind blew up. The wind blew away all the flour on the tray. Keloglan was angry: "Wind, give me back my flour!" But the wind just blew on. So Keloglan went after it: "I'll find the wind's house and ask for my flour."

He went a little way, he went a long way, he crossed mountains and streams, and at last, at the edge of the world, among the clouds, he reached the wind's house. The wind's mother opened the door: "What do you want, my boy?" "Your son took my flour. My mother is waiting at home, hungry." The wind's mother called her son. The wind came, yawning: "I can't give back the flour; it's scattered and gone. But let me give you a tablecloth. If you say, 'Spread, my tablecloth, spread,' the finest food in the world will appear."

Keloglan took the tablecloth and set off. When evening came, he stopped at an inn. The innkeeper was a very greedy man. When Keloglan said in his room, "Spread, my tablecloth, spread," kebabs, rice and baklava appeared on the cloth. The innkeeper saw it through a crack in the door. That night, while Keloglan slept, he stole the tablecloth and left an ordinary one in its place.

Keloglan went home, said, "Mother, look what I've brought!" and spread out the cloth: "Spread, my tablecloth, spread!" Nothing happened. Keloglan was puzzled and went back to the wind's house. "This time let me give you a goat," said the wind. "If you say, 'Shake, my goat, shake,' it will lay gold from its mouth." Again Keloglan stopped at the same inn. Again the innkeeper saw, and again in the night he swapped the goat for an ordinary one.

Keloglan went home and said to the goat, "Shake, my goat, shake!" The goat only bleated. Now Keloglan understood: "This is the innkeeper's doing." For the third time he went to the wind's house. The wind gave him a stick: "If you say to this stick, 'Up, my stick, up,' it will go after whoever has done wrong, and it won't stop until you say, 'Stop, my stick, stop.' Show it to the innkeeper."

This time Keloglan stopped at the inn on purpose. Winking at the innkeeper, he said, "This stick is even more precious than the others. Nobody must touch it," and he pretended to go to sleep. In the night the innkeeper came to take the stick. Just as he reached out his hand, Keloglan whispered: "Up, my stick, up!" The stick rose into the air and went after the innkeeper. The innkeeper ran from room to room, from the yard to the stable; the stick was always behind him, tapping him lightly on the back.

The innkeeper shouted: "Enough! I'll give you anything you want! I have your tablecloth and your goat!" "Stop, my stick, stop," said Keloglan. The innkeeper brought the tablecloth and the goat. Keloglan spread out the cloth, and the food appeared. He called to the goat, and golden eggs tumbled out. The innkeeper could not lift his head for shame.

Keloglan said to the innkeeper: "Tired, hungry travellers stop at your inn. Instead of stealing from them, give them a bowl of soup. And every month I'll send you a feast with my tablecloth, so that no one ever goes hungry at your inn." The innkeeper was amazed and agreed. From that day the inn was called "Keloglan's Inn", and poor travellers could eat there for free.

Keloglan went home, and his mother never went hungry again. With the goat's golden eggs they built a fountain for the village. As for the stick, they hung it behind the door. Whenever someone in the village did something unfair, the headman would say, "Shall we call Keloglan's stick?" and the wrongdoer would put things right at once.

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 went all the way to the wind's house for his flour.