Wooden Horse

Extracted from Rasekhoon

Once upon a time, there was no other than God. In ancient times there was a king who had a daughter. Once that king said to his daughter: "O daughter! Come and wipe my beard."
The king put his head on the knees of the girl and the girl began to search in his beard. Suddenly she found a louse. The king ordered to take the louse and hang it at the gate of the city. He ordered everyone who cried for that louse he would give his daughter to him.
They hung the louse at the gate. One week elapsed. The king every day asked officers if anyone cried for the louse. Answer of the officers was negative. But after elapsing one more week, the king was informed that a dervish had come at the louse and was crying strongly. The king said: "Immediately bring here that dervish."
Officers went and brought the dervish. As the king saw him said: "O dervish! Why are you crying at this louse?" The dervish answered: "O qiblah of the universe! Why our king was annoyed of a louse, why shouldn't we cry? How don't I cry while a louse has come to hurt our king?"
The king became happy under influence of the speech of the dervish and ordered: "Go and bring my daughter."
They brought the king's daughter to the court. The king faced his daughter and said: "I will give you to this dervish."
The girl said: "I will obey any order of the king and I will agree to every husband he will choose for me."
The king rode his daughter on a horse and fastened a saddlebag full of jewelry to the horse and gave the tether of the horse to the dervish.
The dervish went and went until he passed through the gate of the city. Out of the city the dervish turned around himself and became a black demon. He took the four legs of the horse by one of his hands and went into air. He ascended into sky and when he was completely ascended he said to the girl: "O King' daughter! How large is the earth?"
The girl said: "As large as a teapot."
The demon continued and ascended more, and again asked: "O King's daughter! How large is the earth?"
The girl answered: "It is as large as a cup."
The demon continued ascending and asked again: "O King's daughter! How large is the earth?"
The girl answered: "I don't see anything."
The demon said: "Now tell me if I hit you to mountain or drop into sea."
The girl knew the works of the demons were invers. So she said: "Hit me to mountain." The demon threw her into sea. But the horse of the girl, who was a fairy, took the girl gently toward the sea and when they were close to the sea surface the horse flied and reached the girl to land.
When the girl got calm, faced the horse and said: "From now on I forget the father who gave me to a demon. O dear horse! Take me to a city very far from the capital of my father." The horse answered: "OK."
The horse took the girl to a far city. When they reached there the horse said: "O girl! You should not enter this city with women's dress because it is dangerous for you. So you should first think of wearing menswear."
The girl went to the market and bought a suit of menswear and wore it. Her appearance became similar to a man. She went to an inn and rented a room. She closed her horse in the stable and rested at night completely.
The girl hid the saddlebag such carefully that none was able to find it. When it was morning, she took some beads of jewelry and rode the horse and went to the market. In the gold market, she was watching the shops. At last she went to a shop and showed her jewelry. As the goldsmith saw the jewelry, he said: "This is very old. I cannot buy it. Go to that inn. There a merchant has a shop. He has toured all the countries. Maybe he can buy these, because he is very rich."
The girl rode her horse and went to that inn and found the shop of the merchant. There he saw a very beautiful and graceful young man sitting whom every girl seeing him would fall in his love. The girl got off the horse.
As the merchant's son saw the girl, guided her respectfully into the shop and seated her on the throne and brought juice to her and asked her: "Where are you from, and why have you come to this city?"
The girl said: "My father was a businessman. Sometime ago he died and my old mother and I remained alone. So I began the job of my father. I have come to this city to do business. I have rented a room and now I am stranger and don't know anywhere."
The young man, who was unaware of the facts, liked the girl and said: "I have no one in this world but my mother. My father has died and remained his job for me. This shop does not have other supervisor than me. I have no brother either. If you accept me as your brother, until when you are in this city we can work here together."
The girl accepted. But she was worry that someday her secret would be revealed, but anyhow she decided to accept the partnership with the young merchant.
A few days elapsed and whenever the young merchant went home, he told about goodness of his step brother. Eventually one night he said to his mother: "O mother! Tonight my step brother will be my guest. You should cook for him the best food."
When it became dark, the girl said to her horse: "O horse! I am tonight the guest of the young merchant. What do you think I should do?" The horse said: "Go there, but don't sleep there and return back." The girl agreed. But anyhow she was afraid of that someday her secret would be revealed.
The girl rode the horse and went to the home of the young man. The young merchant welcomed her and took her to a neat room.
On the other hand, the mother of the young man who had become curious due to what the young man praised him every night, said to herself: "Let me to stand up and see who he is that my son praises him every night so much." So she went and saw through the slit of the door. She noticed that he is not a man but a girl who had worn menswear. But she said nothing. They ate dinner and it was the time of saying good bye. The girl went to the stable to be aware of her horse. The horse said: "Be careful. His mother had recognized you."
The girl went to the young man and said: "It is late. I should go."
Whatever the young merchant insisted her to stay there at that night, the girl did not agreed and said: "I can sleep only in my home, no in any other place."
The girl said good bye and rode the horse and returned back to her home. The merchant's mother went to his son and said: "Your gust was not a boy but a girl."
The boy said: "O mother! What are you saying? I wish this beautiful man was a girl that I could marry her."
The mother said: "I swear to God! He is a girl. The next time he will come to your home, test him. A woman first steps her left leg in, while a man first steps his right leg in. Be careful to see with which leg will he / she come in first."
The boy went into thinking and after a few days the young merchant said again to the girl: "You should be my guest tonight." The girl was at first in doubt, but the boy insisted so much that the girl was compelled to agree. They went together to the home of the young merchant. On the way, the horse said to the girl: "Be careful. His mother has doubted you and the boy has become curious to see if you are a girl or a boy. When you want to enter the home, first step in your right leg in order that your secret not to be revealed."
As the girl reached in front of the home, the mother of the young merchant went to welcome her and she first step in her right leg and entered. The young merchant at once went and said stealthy to his mother: "Did you notice that he was a boy not a girl?"
The mother said: "I swear to God that he is a girl. Don't let her to leave here tonight. When you will want to sleep tonight, put a bunch of flower under your bed and a bunch of flower under the bed of him. In the morning, see which one of the two bunches will have withered. You will see that his will have withered while yours will have remained fresh, because a flower will wither soon under the body of a woman."
The boy accepted and went to his guest. They ate dinner and after that the boy brought chess and they began to play chess. Whenever the girl wanted to leave there, the boy hindered her by an excuse. They played until the midnight. When the boy noticed that it was too late, said to him: "It is too late to leave here alone. Stay here tonight."
The girl worried and when the boy was out, immediately went to the stable to the horse. The horse said: "O girl! Today too they wanted to test you. The will put a bunch of flower under your bed and another bunch of flower under the bed of the boy. You should be awake and when the boy will go to pray in the morning you should replace the bunches of flowers with each other."
The girl acted to what the horse had said to her and stayed at that night in the home of the young merchant.
In the morning, when the boy went to pray, the girl quickly displaced the bunches of flowers with each other and then she went to pray herself.
The mother of the young merchant came to roll up the beds. She noticed that the flower bunch under the bed of her son had withered while the one under the bed of the girl had remained fresh. She guessed that someone was guiding the girl.
When her son returned back, she said to him: "O dear son! I am sure that this girl has someone to guide her and to inform her all things."
The young man said: "This friend of mine does not know anyone in this city other than a horse that he / she likes it so much." The mother said: "It is very probable that her horse is a fairy. Borrow her horse and take it far from here in order that I have time to think and find a way for her."
In this manner, when the young merchant and the boy were going to the shop, the young merchant faced the girl and said: "O brother! I have liked your horse. Borrow it to me today and I will give it back to you tomorrow."
Although the girl could not be away from the horse, because of the so goodness the young man had done to her inevitably accepted, but promptly went to the horse and said: "Be careful. They are making you away from me by presenting an excuse."
The girl gave the horse to the young merchant. In the same day, the mother of the young merchant filled a pot with milk and put it on the fire and said to her son: "Bring the girl to home."
The young merchant went with the girl to home. They sat close to the pot of milk and began to talk. Suddenly the milk overflew. As the girl saw overflowing of the milk stood up and lifted the pot from the fire and put it aside. As the young merchant watched that act of the girl, he became sure that she was a girl and told her that before that moment while his mother was certain that she was a girl he did not believe. The girl did not say anything. So the boy picked her hat up of her head and by this act the long hair of the girl was appeared.
The girl was ashamed and became red and could not say anything. The young man called his mother. The young man and his mother sat and asked her to tell them on truth why she wore menswear.
The girl told them all had happened to her in detail. As heard her speech, the young merchant said: "I fell in your love from the day I saw you. Now you have no way but accepting me as your husband."
The girl said: "Let me think tonight."
The girl went that night to her horse and said: "What should I do now?"
The horse said: "Every girl should have a husband. Who is better than this boy for you as your husband?"
On the other hand the girl herself had liked the young merchant from the day she had met him. So she accepted to marry him. They hold seven days and seven nights wedding ceremony and they married.
After one year the girl got pregnant. One day the merchant went to his wife and said her that he should take a trip for his business. He wanted his wife to give him her horse. The horse said to the woman: "Don't give me to him, because you'll need me." But the wife could not reject the request of her husband and she should give the horse to her husband. When the horse encountered such state of the wife, said to her: "Want him not to bind me to tree."
The wife said to her husband: "Be careful that during your trip not to bind this horse to tree. Whenever you want to bind it, hold down its long nail into the ground."
The merchant agreed and ordered up many things to his wife and mother and went. When he was leaving there said to his wife: "When God gave you child, immediately write a letter to me to inform me."
After a few months after when the merchant had gone, the wife felt pain a day and God gave her a son and a daughter, one having golden hair and the other having pearl tooth. The merchant's mother got very glad and wrote a letter and gave it to a messenger. The messenger took the letter and went swiftly to the city where the merchant was there.
Now hear about the demon who had taken the girl from the king.
After the demon had dropped the girl onto sea, he understood that the girl had not died and had been saved. He was asking here and there of her and followed her. At last he was informed that she had married the young merchant and she was to have child. He dad sat on the way and was afraid of the fairy horse and so could not close to her. But when he saw the messenger, he realized that the king's daughter was bringing child and that messenger was taking the information of the birth of the children to the husband. So he called the messenger and said: "O brother! Well done. Come here and rest and let smoke hookah."
The messenger came and sat next to the demon who had changed himself into a dervish again. They talked about everything. The messenger who did not know the dervish answered every question of the dervish.
When the dervish was informed of everything, he made the messenger asleep using the magic. The messenger slept in the position of sitting. Dervish took the letter out of the turban of the messenger and put instead of it another letter in which he had written: "O son! Your wife had given birth to two puppies. What should I do with these puppies?"
The he awakened the messenger. The messenger got up and set off. When he reached the destination, he found the young merchant and gave the letter to him. As the merchant read the letter got very sad. He wrote a letter to his mother in which he had written: "O mother! If my wife had given birth to puppied even, they are my children anyway. Please take care of them well until when I will come back very soon."
The merchant gave the letter to the messenger. The messenger was promptly returning back that again encountered the same demon, changed into a dervish, on his way.
The dervish invited the messenger to sit beside him and smoke hookah. The messenger sat there and again the dervish made him asleep using magic. The dervish took out the letter and replaced it by another letter in which he had written: "O kind mother! If my wife had given birth to two children, one having golden hair and the other having pearl tooth, you should expel them out of the home, otherwise I will kill them and their mother when I will return back."
Then he awakened the messenger. The messenger got up and set off. The messenger reached the city and gave the letter to the mother. But the mother did not show the letter to the wife but she began to weep every day and night. At last one day the merchant's wife found the letter. As she read the letter began to cry and said to her husband's mother: "You are not guilty. This is my fate. I should leave this home too. But if someday your son wants to follow us, he will have to tear seven metal shoes and seven metal sticks in order that he can reach us."
How the mother – in – law tried to convince her not to leave there by waiting the return back of her husband, the wife did not accept. The mother – in – law believed that her son had become mad. The wife reasoned that waiting was useless. So she embraced her children and set off while she was crying.
She went and went until when it was night. She had reached a desert and had become sick due to cold and hunger and thirst. She had just sat that she noticed that her horse was coming galloping. When the horse approached there, she saw that the horse was dragging a tree too with itself. The horse closed the girl. The girl and the horse sat beside each other and cried so much. At last the horse said: "Your husband had closed me to a tree. I tried as much to free myself from the tree as my liver became separate from its place. So I will die. When I die you should tear my abdomen and take out my bowel and heart and liver. You should clean inside my abdomen completely and then you and your children should go there and stay there until tomorrow morning and during the night you should not come out whatever voice you will hear."
After saying this, the horse fell and died.
The girl first cried so much. Then she tore the abdomen of the horse and take out all of the content of it. The she cleaned the abdomen completely. After that she and her children went into it. During the night she heard a voice saying: "Give me a brick. Give me gold in order to build house." Although she was surprised, she did not come out of the horse's abdomen. In the morning, when the sun rose, she opened her eyes and saw through the slit of the horse's abdomen. She saw that they had built a so wonderful palace in the desert that each two bricks of it were from gold and silver. She was still surprised of seeing palace that some bondwomen came and took the woman and children and washed them thoroughly and cleaned them. The put the babies in golden cradle asleep and gave the woman the best food and drink. Also ten bondwomen were standing in front of her. She did not have such a dignity and respect even in his father's palace.
Now hear the story of the young merchant.
The young man passed his life with an immense sadness after reading the letter of his mother until a day when he noticed that the horse had also leaved him. Then his grief became even more. He could stay in that stranger city no longer. So he got ready to leave there. He moved toward his city to see where his wife and children were.
When he reached his city and saw his mother, his mother suddenly cried strongly and showed him his letter and told him all the story in detail. The young merchant was perplexed. He cried strongly due to severe sadness. At last, he asked her mother: "Didn't say my wife anything before leaving here?"
The mother answered: "She only said that if probably you want to follow them you should tear seven metal sticks and seven metal shoes in order that you can reach them."
The young merchant got ready to take trip and wore metal shoes and hold metal stick in his hand and said: "O mother! Good bye. I am going to find my wife and children."
The young man went and went. He passed through cities and villages. He was in journey five years and got hardness and disasters so much. At last he reached a city in which his wife and children were residing. He saw there a palace which its brick were from gold and silver alternatively. There was a beautiful pool in front of the palace and two five years old children were playing with a wooden horse near the pool. One of the children was saying: "O wooden hose! Drink water. O wooden hose! Drink water."
The merchant who was so tired leaned against a tree and said: "O ignorant child! Does a wooden horse drink water?"
As the child hear that speech began to cry and went toward his mother and said her that someone had come and asked if a wooden horse drink water. The mother came near the window and looked at outside and saw the young merchant and recognized him. So she said the child: "Go and give water to your wooden horse, and if that man said to you the same words, say to him whether the merchant's wife could give birth to dog."
The child came near the pool and again began to play. He hold his wooden horse and said: "O wooden horse! Drink water."
The merchant said: "O ignorant child! Does a wooden horse drink water?"
The child replied: "O man! Does the merchant's wife give birth to dog?"
As the merchant heard that, he understood that those children are his children. He ran and embraced them and took them to the palace. As he met his wife dropped on the feet of the woman and cried so much. The voice of his crying spread throughout the palace.
Then he told his wife all of his story in detail. When the wife understood that his husband did not have guilty she wept so much. Then they stood up and began a new life gladly.