Read Ilbay's Tale

"Once upon a time, when the sieve was in the straw, camels were town criers, and fleas were barbers, and I was rocking my father's cradle, there lived a boy named İlbay in a faraway land. This boy was very clever. İlbay had two friends. One day, these friends said,

"İlbay, we're bored. We're going out for a bit. Would you like to come with us?"

The three friends set out on their journey. While they were wandering, it got dark, and evening had fallen. They got lost. As they were wondering what to do, one said,

"Let's go to the house with the smoking chimney and the light on."
The other said,
"Let's go to the place with the running water."

They all decided to go to the house with the smoking chimney and the light on.

They went and knocked on the door of the house. An old woman opened the door. The children said to the woman,

"We're lost, Grandma. Can you take us home?"

The old woman It was the giant's mother. Her eyes lit up when she saw the children:

"Come, my children, come, you must be hungry," she said, and took them home.

She prepared a meal for them. Then she laid out the bed and put them to bed:

"You sleep now, I'll make you some scones and pastries in the morning," she said.

Everyone went to bed and slept. İlbay, realizing the woman would harm them, stayed up. He got up quietly and listened to the giant's mother. The giant's mother said to herself:

"Let them get a good night's sleep, and I'll go eat these. I'm really hungry."
İlbay heard the giant's mother's words. After a while, the giant's mother entered the room:

"Who's sleeping? Who's awake?" she asked.

"Grandma, everyone's asleep, only I'm awake," said İlbay.
The giant's mother:

"Why are you awake, my child?" she asked.

"My mother used to bring me water from the teapot before I went to sleep, and I would drink it and then fall asleep. You bring me some, so I can drink it, and then I'll sleep," she said İlbay.

The giant mother took the sieve and went to the stream. She tried to fill it with water, but it was spilling. While the giant mother was trying to fill the water, İlbay woke his friends. He told them what he had heard. They ran away from home. Unable to fill the water, the giant mother got angry and threw the sieve aside. When she came home, she saw neither İlbay nor his friends! In her anger, she chased after the children, but she couldn't reach them. The children who escaped the giant mother never went to unknown places again, nor did they go out late at night.

Three apples fell from the sky: one for the person who told the story, one for the person who listened, and one for the children who hadn't gone out late at night..."