הסולטן ובת האיכר

(1) this story is from my grandmother, ummi žə́yma (2) there was a girl, whom people used to call ‘cursed seven years’ (3) this girl cursed seven years, one day her father met the sultan (4) he asked him: how are you and so on (5) he said: thank God, everything is all right (6) he told him: I would like to ask you a question (7) oh! when the sultan was passing by, he found the man planting the onion (8)  he asked him: this onion, you will eat it or it will eat you? (9) he said: listen, you have three days to bring me the answer (10) if not, they would kill him (11) poor man went home hitting his head: what a mistake I made (by planting the onion) (12) his daughter came, the one that is cursed seven years (13) the father told her (what happened), she said: do not be afraid, father, in three days I will tell you what to answer to the sultan (14) on the third day she told him: go and tell him ‘if I am alive, I will eat it, and if I am dead, it means it ate me’ (15) he went to the sultan, he told him this and that (16) but I want you to tell me now: what would they say, a coffee kettle, when they put it on  fire, what does it say? When people prepare a coffee in a kettle, what does it say? (17) oh! he said, what a mistake I made now! (18) she (the daughter) said: father, do not be afraid (19) three days later, she told him: go and tell him ‘I am coffee, and those who drink me enjoy, and those who get used to me - I become their curse’ (20) the king was amazed by this man (21) he said: now I want you to tell me, a water well (22) when people take out a bucket from a well, what does it say? (23) he said: what will I do now? He went to his daughter (24) she said: father, do not be afraid (25) three days later, she said: you will tell him ‘I am wood, my smell is pleasant and my body hurts’ (26) he told him: who explains you all these things? (27) he said: now I want you to do for me this (28) naked and dressed, cries and laughs, rides and walks on feet (29) poor man got scared (30) he went to his daughter and she told him: father, do not be afraid (31) three days later she told him: bring me a donkey (32) a small one, she said, a short one (33) she put him on the donkey (34) he was riding the donkey and his feet were shuffling on the floor (35) and she undressed him and put on him a piece of fabric (36) in a fabric there were holes, so he was both dressed and naked (37) and she took an onion and rubbed it on his forehead (38) tears started dripping from his eyes, his situation was awful and he almost died (39) and he was crying, almost dying from laughter (40) he went to the king, the king told him: now I want you to tell me who this person is, who explains you all those things (41) he said: your majesty, it is my daughter (42) he told him: this daughter, I would like to marry her (43) the king came and took his three servants (44) he told them: fill up a basket with the best clothes, perfumes and soap and go to the bride (45) they arrived at the man’s house and knocked at the door (46) and she said: my mind is on my knees, I cannot stand up now (47) they went to the king (48) they told him: are you going to marry this woman? She is insane, she said that her mind was on her knees (49) he told them: you are insane, her mind was on her knees because she was finishing [combing] her hair and her hair reaches the legs, when she stands up she will let you know, go back there! (50) they came back and knocked on the door (51) she told them: put your legs on the bricklayer, one hand on the carpenter and the other hand on the blacksmith (52) they went to the king and told him: what are those things? (53) this woman has messed with our heads! (54) he told them: [it means] put your legs on the doorstep, one hand on the door and the other on the lock and knock (55) they went in, she received them with happiness and saw the basket (56) she told them: give my best regards to the king (57) but tell him: there are three starts missing on the sky and three ships in the sea (58) they went back and told him: what a dear bride and how she received us! (59) oh! your majesty, but she said that there are three stars missing on the sky and three ships missing in the sea (60) and the king told them: what had you stolen from the basket? (61) indeed, they had stolen three items from each kind (62) he wanted to get married with her so they started the wedding (63) he told her: listen, I have one condition with you (64) from the day we get married you will not talk to people (65) they got married and one day the king was passing by, walking on the beach and what did he find? (66) a man came to the king with a complaint (67) he told him: what happened? he said: your majesty, I have a thoroughbred mare and I spent a night with her in an inn and she gave birth to an interbred foal, how come a thoroughbred mare delivers a donkey?! (68) he told him: let me think about it (69) the man was worried (70) while he was walking worried on the beach, she sat down on the balcony and saw him walking (71) she told him: what is wrong with you? (72) he told her: let it go, oh woman, leave me in peace (73) she told him: you have to tell me (74) he told her: I have a mare and she gave birth to a donkey and the king told me that she craved a crossbred horse and this is what happened (75) she told him: tomorrow at seven in the morning the king is supposed to take a stroll on the beach (76) tomorrow morning you take barley and start sowing it in the sand (77) the king was passing by and told him: are you insane? How come are you sowing barely in the sand? (78) he told him: and how come the mare delivers a donkey? (79) the king understood and said: only my wife (could have staged that), there is nobody else (80) he went home and told her: I am a king now and I do not want gaffs (81) late in the night take whatever is valuable for you and go back to your father (82) I gave a condition and you did not keep your promise (83) whatever you decide, will happen (84) at night she gave him sleeping drugs, she put him asleep, took his bed, brought his servants and moved him to her father’s premises (85) he woke up in the morning and found a cat meowing and a cock crowing and he said: what is that? Where I woke up? What am I doing here? (86) she told him: aren’t you my condition? (87) he told her: your condition? How? (88) she told him: a thing that is valuable for me (89) the thing that is valuable for you take it and leave (90) you are valuable for me so I took you (91) he told her: they will come to me in the daytime and at night I will consult with you and the court will only happen the day after, after I consult with you.