Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales, Part A

The Fish-Peri

Illustration by Willy Pogany from Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales. 

Source: Turkish Fairy Tales

• A young man catches a fish which he decides to keep.
• The fish turns into a beautiful maiden who cleans his home when he is out.
• I might retell this story from the maiden's point of view and give a her a back story as to how she became a fish.  Maybe she was cursed?
• The youth hides in his house, sees her transformation, and throws her fish skin away so she is set free.
• The Padishah hears of her beauty, demands to see her, and is determined to marry her.
• The Padishah gives the youth 5 impossible tasks, which if he cannot complete, the Padishah will take the maiden and marry her
• The maiden tells the youth how to complete all the tasks, but he scares me a little bit when he almost messes up two of the tasks.
• He completes all the tasks and marries the maiden.

Bibliography: "The Fish-Peri" from Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos.  Sources: The Fish-Peri and The Fish-Peri (cont.)