Haknezer the Champion (Pahlavan)

👑 Haknezer the Champion (Pahlavan)

Once upon a time, long, long ago, when camels were town criers and fleas were barbers, there lived a mother and son.

The woman had no husband. She had a few goats, chickens, and geese, and they made a living from the milk and eggs they provided. But the mother had one constant worry: her son, Haknezer, was extremely afraid of everything. He was so afraid that he wouldn't even step outside the house. This worried his mother greatly.

One day, the woman's neighbors in the village gave her advice:

"Cook something your son loves, and trick him into going outside," they said.

The boy loved a fried dough called pişi. His mother made some pişi, placed one outside the door, another a little further away, and lined up several on the ground inside. She gave one to her son to eat.

When her son ate the first pişi, he asked for more. Eating the ones on the ground, he reached the doorstep. He reached for the one outside but couldn't grab it, so he moved a little further out. At that moment, his mother pushed the boy from behind, shut the door, and locked it!

The boy started screaming and crying outside:

"Mother, open the door! The wind will blow me away! The sun will burn me! The wolves and birds will eat me!" He banged on the door.

His mother, wanting her son to face real life, replied:

"I won't open the door. Go wherever you want!"

After the boy had been outside for a while, he realized that the wind hadn't blown him away, nor had the sun melted him. And his mother wouldn't let him back in. He decided to go out into the world on his own.

Before leaving, he asked his mother for a few things: a stick, a packing needle ($çuvaldız$), some flour, and his favorite kitten. His mother gave him what he asked for.

The boy put the stick on his shoulder and set off. Haknezer left home and walked for days. Finally, he reached a forest. There, he ate some food and drank water from the stream. With a full stomach, he fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, he saw that flies had landed on his stick. He quickly flipped his stick over and hit it on the ground. The flies instantly died. Haknezer counted the dead flies. He saw that he had killed exactly forty flies!

Since he killed forty flies at once, he wrote on his stick:

Haknezer the Champion, crushes forty with one strike!

After writing this on his stick, he left the stick there and fell asleep again.

Meanwhile, the giants living deep in the forest were about to go to war with other giants. They were looking for someone to give them strength. The giants suddenly noticed Haknezer sleeping under the tree. Passing by Haknezer, they saw the writing on his stick: Haknezer the Champion, crushes forty with one strike.

The giants decided among themselves that they had found the person they were looking for! The giants began to talk:

"After we win the war, we will find a way to get rid of this man," they thought.

They woke Haknezer up and said:

"We are going to war with another land of giants. If you help us, we will give you a share of the spoils."

Haknezer was both afraid that the giants would kill him and eager to win treasure. He immediately accepted the giants' offer.

A giant lifted Haknezer onto his back and said:

"You feel very light to me. Is this how a champion should be?"

Haknezer said:

"I am not giving you my full weight so you don't get tired. Wait, let me give you my weight."

He pulled the packing needle from his bag and pricked the giant! The giant screamed in pain:

"Ouch, ouch! Don't give me your weight! Give me your lightness!"

Haknezer took the needle out and put it back in his bag.

The giants still couldn't believe this tiny man was a champion. A giant picked up a stone and crushed it in his hand until it crumbled. Seeing this, Haknezer said:

"That's nothing!"

He pretended to take a stone and squeeze it. At that moment, he secretly reached into his bag and took out a handful of flour. He threw the stone behind him, took the flour from his bag, and blew it at the giants. The giants couldn't believe Haknezer had crumbled the stone into flour! They were convinced that Haknezer was a real champion.

Then, another giant scratched himself and pulled a flea from his body. Then he said to Haknezer:

"Look, this is a big flea."

Haknezer scratched himself, scratched himself, and then reached into his bag and put the little kitten he took from home on the ground. The giants couldn't believe their eyes! They were sure that Haknezer was a very, very powerful champion.

They took Haknezer to the land of the giants. When the giants in the country saw Haknezer, they thought he couldn't help them because he was so frail. But when the other giants told them what he had done, they were amazed.

Evening came, and they brought food for Haknezer. When the champion ate only a little bit of the lamb, the giants asked why he ate so little.

Haknezer said:

"I had just eaten two camels right before I met you."

Next, he asked the giants for water in a buffalo hide ($camış derisi$—a very large container). He said to the giants:

"The water here is not enough for me. I will go and fill it from the stream."

He went to the stream and blew up the buffalo hide with his mouth. He put only a little water inside. He came back to the giants and, after letting the air out of the hide, he drank the little water. The giants couldn't believe how Haknezer had drunk an entire buffalo hide full of water!

Then, they became afraid of him because he was so strong despite his thin body. They thought, "A man who crushes forty with one strike might kill all of us tonight." They made a plan to get rid of Haknezer the champion that night.

Haknezer overheard this plan and took precautions to protect himself. He put stones shaped like a man in his bed. He himself hid under the bed.

After a while, the giants came with sticks and hit the stones with their poles without lifting the blanket, and then they left. After the giants were gone, Haknezer cleaned up the crushed stones, got into bed, and slept.

The next morning, the giants met Haknezer. Haknezer was constantly scratching himself. The giants asked him why he was scratching. Haknezer said:

"The fleas jumped on me all night long."

The giants couldn't believe it. They said to each other, "Our beating all night long felt to him like fleas jumping! What a powerful champion this is!"

Then, before the giants went to war with the other giants, they took Haknezer to the stable to choose a horse. Haknezer chose the smallest, weakest horse at the back of the stable. The giants were again surprised, thinking, "How did this champion immediately know and choose the fastest, most tireless, most enduring horse?"

Since Haknezer didn't know how to ride a horse, he said:

"Put me on this horse and tie me securely! I get very angry in battle, and I don't want to jump off!"

The giants tied him tightly onto the horse, and they set off for war.

Haknezer's horse sped like lightning, leaving all the giants behind. Haknezer was so scared of the horse's speed, but he couldn't jump off because he was tied. He reached out with his hands, right and left, but couldn't grab anything. Finally, he hugged a tree so tightly that he pulled the tree out by its roots and took it into his arms!

The enemies were coming toward Haknezer from the opposite side. Haknezer charged into the enemies with the huge, branched tree in his hands. The horse ran like lightning, and the champion swung the tree this way and that. The tree's branches, knots, and roots knocked the enemies off their horses, wounded some, and pierced and killed others.

By the time the giants arrived, Haknezer had defeated all the enemies.

The giants came and saw that Haknezer had killed all the enemies and was still sitting on the horse. They finally caught the horse and took Haknezer down. They returned to their country.

The giants talked among themselves and decided to take Haknezer back to where they found him. They gave Haknezer a share of the spoils: gold and silver. Two giants escorted Haknezer to the forest. Haknezer then went home from the forest. His mother was overjoyed to see him with gold and silver!

Haknezer said:

"I am no longer afraid of the sun or the wind. I am a champion!"

As the giants were returning from the forest, they met a Fox. The Fox asked the giants where they were coming from and where they were going.

The giants said:

"We left Haknezer the Champion and are returning to our country."

The Fox said:

"What kind of champion is Haknezer? Even I can beat him!"

The giants didn't believe it.

The Fox said:

"If you want, I can beat him right here next to you. If you don't believe me and fear I will run away, take this rope, tie it around your waist, and I will tie it around mine. That way, you'll be sure I won't escape."

The giants tied the rope around their waists and tied the rope around the Fox's waist. They set off toward Haknezer's house.

Haknezer the Champion saw the giants and the Fox coming toward his house through the window. Haknezer's mother quickly gave her son advice.

Haknezer went to the window and started shouting:

"Hey, Fox! Your grandfather owes my grandfather seven giants! You cannot settle this debt by bringing only two giants!"

The giants said:

"This Fox is taking us as payment for a debt!"

The giants turned around and started running! The Fox started being dragged along the ground! The Fox paid the price for his malicious intentions.

Haknezer the Champion lived happily ever after in wealth until the end of his life.

They got their wishes, and we can climb onto the couch. 🛋️