The Turk and the Girl
Long ago, though not so very long ago, the Turks attacked Moldavia. Red fezzes spread across all the towns and villages. With sticks and whips, they forced people to pay tribute and committed countless atrocities—only Mother Earth knows how many.One day, in a village, marriageable girls, younger women, and older women gathered for a spinning party, laughing and joking as they spun. Suddenly, someone knocked on the window. The girls giggled and nudged each other:
"You go, Katinkuța! You go, Smaranda! No, you’d better go, Ileana!"
Ileana went out into the yard to see who was knocking. And whom did she see? A burly Turk on a black horse. Before the girl could scream in fright, the Turk grabbed her by the waist, put her on the horse, and off they went. He raced the horse over hills and valleys. When the poor girl came to her senses, the Turk was singing:
"Giddy-up, my horse,
We’re taking the maiden home,
We’ll throw her alive into the oven!"
So the Turk rode across the land, with the wind at his back, until he reached a copper palace, surrounded by a copper fence with copper gates. An old Turkish woman sat in front of the palace.
"May you live forever in health, mother!"
"Welcome, and good health to you too, my son."
"I’ve brought a young maiden."
"Go, call the guests, and we’ll feast in style."
The Turk went off to summon the guests, while the old Turkish woman, as mean as a wasp, stoked a blazing fire in the oven to roast the girl. The poor girl realized what fate awaited her, but she didn’t fall to her knees begging for mercy. Instead, she began to think and wonder how to save herself. When the fire burned so hot that the oven glowed, the old woman placed a huge shovel on the hearth and shouted:
"Jump onto the shovel, girl!"
"You jump first, witch, show me how!" the girl shot back.
The enraged old woman lashed out at her:
"May the desert swallow you! Don’t you have the sense to lie on the shovel?"
"How should I know, auntie? I’ve never done such a thing before!"
"What a fool you are!" the old woman scolded and began to demonstrate how to lie down. "Look, you imbecile, you must lie face up, arms at your sides, legs straight, and close your eyes."
The girl had been waiting for just this moment. As soon as the old woman lay stretched out on the shovel, the girl shoved her into the oven—bang!—and slammed the door shut. Then she ran away, and her trail was lost. A little later, the Turk returned with his guests and sat them at the table.
"Hey, mother, where are you? Come out and set the table!"
But how could the old woman come out? She had turned into pastrami! The Turk called and called for her, searched and searched, but couldn’t find her. Finally, he rushed to the oven door. When he saw his mother inside, he nearly died on the spot, but he was tough—his heart didn’t burst.
Furious, he followed the girl’s trail, almost catching up. The poor girl, seeing how things had turned, climbed to the very top of a tree by the riverbank and sat there, not moving a muscle.
The Turk chased her so hard that the ground shook. When he reached the trees, he saw the girl’s reflection in the water and shouted:
"Now I’ve got you!"—and—splash!—into the water he went.
And that was the end of the Turk—he drowned, while the girl returned to her native village.