1968 --If: ,ol ~A~~ ,and Teache!.J!.!-£!2~~aton.ttu.edu/narratives/wmvol_17-601_hizir_aids_and_teaches_the_charitable.pdfcomes Kurban [sacrifice] Ba.yraIII (festival]. On 1:hat day

(~Jstory #601 (1968, Tape #2) Narrator: HaalLn G~.lo«lu

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Location: VilJ.age of Danerasl.t.kazai of Andu:LntProv'ince of Marat

~:

1968

--If:" ,ol

~A~~ ,and Teache!.J!.!-£!2~~

Once there was a ~~~~~ vho had only ten 8 in his flock.

One ~iy he prayed. "0 A:llah. if you vill only t1~n my ten sheep

into a thousand, I sbal:L be very charitable. "1Allah accepted the

One day a IDSW came to him and asked, "Fellc»v citizen, are any

of these sheep for sa1e~~"

"Yes,

the,. s.re for sale."

pocket for money to pay for it. But the shelXler'd did not wish any

money and he refused to accept any from the man. The man left,

pleased at receiving a free sheep, and everywher1e he went he told

people about the shepherd who gave away sheep. Those who heard this

went and, one by one, took away every sheep in t:be shephezod,ls flock.

;:: The shepherd was finally left with nothing but his(~~~~and his

..

(~~~ for he bad given iaway his entire fortune.

He took his staff a;t1d set out to find some 'forthy(!~ to be his

lCharity is one of ~~he five pillars of IslaJn. Every good Moslemgives to the poor during his lifetime and leaTes a portion of hisestate to some charitabl~, cause.

2Forty days after tIle end of RA_~!:-9.I!, the hc)ly month ,of fasting,comes Kurban [sacrifice] Ba.yraIII (festival]. On 1:hat day e'very familyab:le to do so sacrifices a sheep and gives. away Jlalf the meat to theneedy.

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I~'+Story #601

wife.

Along the wSJ' tw met a man on hore:ebac}~ who was c~ro88ing a

stnam. The m8~ aakeCL, "Be,., sheP1erd, where are you gc)ing?"

Not knowing that the man on the horse W&!J HJ.ZU,' the shep-

herd answered, '11 am ~:oing to try to find a pJl.ace where there is a

deCEtnt girl whom I cml marry- If I CaD. find 2Juch a girl. I shall

DIar17 her."

"There are onl7 t:wo girls left of the kiz1d you are looking

tor. One ot these was married som time ago, and the o1:her is to

start her ~~~~~~~~~j) today. We IIm8t go and ge~= her right

away before she is 8rried to aDOther."

The shepherd acctlpted the man's offer of 888istanc~t, and the two

of them proceed.ed togelther at once to the plac:e where the wedding vas

beginning. When the,. arriTed, the,. were inTit:ed to join the wedding

celebration.

Before the entire company sat dclwn to dine, the man onI

horf;eback whom the she'pherd had met addressed the host and the impor-

tant: guests: "Friendsl, this young man who CaM here with me is a,.JII~-- ' II "'f- 4

close coml8nion of mUle. With the will of Allah, I ha,re come here

to sLSk for the hand 01' the girl whose wedding bas begun for.,. frieIJ.d."

The@~~w.re eltartled by this proposaJ.. HJ..Z~ ,,as holding

in his hand a stick of' cherry wood which he uLd used as a whip while

..He drove this stick into the ground" and then he said, "1he rode.

3~~ is a saint: not entirely accepted by the Mos:lem.-_estab-lishment. He is a wlt-minute rescuer of thoeJe in desperatesituation, a granter of wishes properly requeeJted, and, in ruralar82iS, a vater god, fertility god, and vegetai;ion god.

4HD3.r is here ac:ting as a T~kish, dUnUr (matchmaker). Theinitial remark of a dtlnttr to the parents -oTa prospective bride is,"I have come vj.th th8'Yrr1 of Allah and. the consent of ,the Prophet toask for the hand of :x for I, the SOD of Z." .-The narrator has short-ened this for his own convenience.

;i.;i~

story #601~

",..,~

L"/~ ~)-o"d.r

.bpc~ -t'I'ge.,) &...d

+~~ p/c,-I~c! ..I"'-J'~fr 2. s-, Jh~~od' :-t..t,;i- --~ll &.I(+J,~ G-

~ .--'--'-ieI-.) AAam leaving now to go and perform tvq::~~~!r ot~

return, I sha.1l expec:t you to be ready to gi ~'e me an ansver to myWhen I

ProPOsal." CA_~ ~~ -tl tp c!: 4'~ I.J 'oz.'v- -.r/"a-o~"'J

'j Qe. ) o ci 6~W" -f.,,~ t"' --~ l (..) ,-tiI", ,After Hiz~ had left to Pray, the cherry stick whi~~ ~- ~-~IQ.~ ~!~

~c-..J,

.6...('~I-'1t,.t 1'~

&&V uaudriven into the groUnd began to sprout" put fl)rth leaves, and. then

becc)me a fully grown 1:ree.

ground.

When hereturned, he asked,

"We shall giveour bride to your friend."

Duringthe t:ime required for two ~~t the stick had! grown in1:o a mature

/;z.,story #601

" Wh1?" asked the shepherd.

"Because the earth in this valle,. is filJ.ed with jewels of all

kinds. n

"Bttt I do not wish to remain here.. I do not care about the

jewels.

that I should vant."

They traveled SOIIM distance farther and ,at last came to the

shepherd's hut. HJ.Z~1" had wandered ofj~ somew:tlere by himself. The

she:pherd and his wife were very hungry" for tJ~,. had earlier eaten

all of their small supply of food. The shepherd said, '1M,. dear vife."

"Yes, my dear hwsband?"

b~ some food."

"All right," she answered.

The shepherd toolc the crown and went to i~he nearest town, where

he traded the crown for a~ (He was sti:ll not aware that the man

with whom he had trav4tled was HJ.Z1.r.) Then h4~ traded the horse for

a ~~ After a while, he traded the saddl4. for a(i!~!~~~!R>

Finally, he traded thtt whip tor two loa,ves ot@~ and with these

..

he returned to his wij~..

Now while thie shEtpherd had been doing a1JL ot this tradi:ng, he

had been observed by a <!~;;~~~ "Hey, teIJLow. what have you been

doing?" the shopkeepe]~ asked.

6Occasionally at viis- weddings the brj..de is given a tiara orsimple crown. This ies n6t of any great value usually, '~hough it maybe set with one or mo1~ precious or semi-precj"ous stones.

~

[;:..7story #601

horae. 1 ga".e the horae for a saddle. .r"1 gaTe a crown for a

gaTe the saddle for a w:tJ.ip. And not I haT. traded the whip for two

loaves of bread."

"What do you think your wife will ~..y about all of thi8?n asked

the shopkeeper.

"She will not say 'an.rthing."

"I shall se:nd with you two of my -n to observe what her reaction

If it is true that she will not say anything, I shaJ.l give you half

is.

of this store."

"Very well. n replied the shepherd.

There the shep-The two men followed the shepherd home to his hut.

Then I trade'd"1 gaTe the 4~rown f'or a horst..herd reported to his wife:

For the saddle I got 8. riding wl1ip. And torthe horse for a saddle.

the whip I got these two loaves of bread. Let us eat them, for I am

b,ungr,- ."

"M)" dear husband, you did well. Let us el,t. because I am very

~

hungry too. n

"Well,

whatLater the shopc:eeper's two men asked the e;hepherd,

happe ned? '1

The shepherd told these men what had happttned. It became quite

c:leaI' that the wife badl DOt grown angry at her husband for trading her

precious crown, as h. }:l8.d, for two loaves of bJ:'ead. The;,. all went

back toe to tell the shopkeeper just what 11ad happened. But the

shopkeeper did not: wis11. to give away half of h:Ls ~ as he had pro-

As they '(ere arguing about this, however, the sign overmeed to do.

\:}.

t

~8'story #601

the door of the shop fell to the grouDd. When the shopkeeper sav the

,

I

sign falling, he inte~ted this as an~ and so he changed his

mind and agreed to give half of his .bop to the shepherd. As soon as

he came into poSS8S8ioll of halt the shop, the ,shepherd started giving

away the merchandise free to all those who pBSlsed by.

One day while he was thus being too genel'li)U8 in giving awaY' his

ActuallY' this waagoods, the shepherd. W8JS spoken to sterDl1 b1 a 18.D.

"My son," he said,H3.ZU, who now appeared in the form of a roUDg -.n.

fir am HJ.Z1.r Aleyktimse1Jtm. You cannot carry on in this way all of your

You vill have to change thislife, so thriftless ~i naively generous.

attitude and be more humble."

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