The Tale of the Lemon Girl

Once upon a time. There was a benevolent sultan in a country. This sultan used to distribute food to the poor during Ramadan and clothes during festivals. One day a year, he poured oil from one tap and honey from another tap of the fountain in front of his palace and received the blessings of everyone.

One day, when oil and honey were flowing from the taps of the fountain, an old woman came to the fountain. She filled a jug with oil. Just as she was about to walk away, the prince accidentally hit the old woman. The jug in her hand fell to the ground and broke, and the oil spilled on the ground. The old woman, upset that her jug was broken and the oil was wasted, looked up and said to the prince:

“Oh son, I won’t say anything to you. I hope you will be in Lemon Girl’s trouble,” he said.

After that day, the prince was lost in thought. He wondered who this Lemon Girl was and where she was. The sultan, who was annoyed by his son’s thoughtfulness, called him one day and asked him what was wrong. The prince said that he was curious about the Lemon Girl and that he would go and look for her if he was allowed. The sultan desperately agreed. After the prince got ready, one day the sultan said goodbye to his father and sultan mother and set off.

He traveled far and wide. Six months and a fall went by, crossing meadows and harvesting tulips and hyacinths. Then he came across an old man on a mountainside. He bowed and kissed the old man’s hand. The old man was very pleased that this young man respected him and kissed his hand:

“No, son, where are you going all alone like this?” he asked.

Prince: “There is a Lemon Girl. I am very curious about her, so I went out to look for her. But, even though I have been walking for days, I still haven’t found a trace…”

The old man laughed: “I know where the Lemon Girl is, I’ll give you directions: Walk this way. Go behind the mountain opposite. There you will see a rose garden. Rose trees have huge thorns. Saying, ‘What beautiful roses’, pick a rose and smell it. Don’t look at your hands bleeding! Walk out of there. You will come across a stream whose water is as red as blood. Go to it and drink some of it, saying, ‘Oh, what clean water’. Continue on your way. A little further on you will come across a sheep and a dog. Put the meat in front of the sheep in front of the dog and the grass in front of the dog in front of the sheep. Walk away from there. Two doors will appear ahead of you. One is closed and the other is open. Open the closed door and close the open door! Walk through the open door. You will enter a large garden. This is the garden of the giant’s palace. In the garden, among thousands of fruit trees, there is a lemon tree. Look for that tree and find it. You will see three lemons on it. Pick all three lemons and go back without looking back! Go back the way you came. When you cut these lemons, a girl will come out of each one. They will ask you for something. If you do what they ask, fine. If not, they will fly away like birds. Godspeed, my son!”

The prince thanked the old man. When he bent down to kiss his hand, he found no one there. The old man suddenly disappeared. The prince immediately set off and started walking. Soon he reached the back of the mountain. Soon he reached the rose garden. He dived among the roses. Even though his hands were covered in blood from the thorns, he plucked a rose and smelled “what beautiful roses”. He walked out of there. He came across a stream whose water flowed like blood. He went to the edge, bent down, said, “Oh, what clean water,” and drank some. He got up and continued on his way. A little further on he saw a sheep and a dog. He put the grass in front of the dog in front of the sheep and the meat in front of the sheep in front of the dog and walked away from there. A little later, two doors appeared in front of him. He closed the open door, opened the closed door, passed through it and entered the giant’s orchard.

He searched the whole garden and found the lemon tree. There were indeed three lemons on the tree. He plucked all three lemons and went back. Just as he approached the gate of the garden, the giant realized that the lemons had been plucked from his garden and shouted at the top of his voice:

“Doors, doors, hold on to this human being!” The doors didn’t move a wing:

“For years you have kept one of us open and one of us closed. This human being came, took care of us, gave us a rest. How can we do evil to him?” they said. The prince passed through the door. This time the giant called out to the sheep:

“Sheep, sheep, white sheep! I couldn’t play, you play a game for mankind!”

The white sheep did not move a feather.

“All these years you treated me like a dog and threw a morsel of meat in front of me. This human being came and gave me a pinch of grass. Now how can I throw away this favor and do evil to him?” When the giant gave up on the sheep, he called the dog:

“A Karabaş, Karabaş, be a dog and tease this human being!” Karabaş also spoke up:

“All these years I have been at your door, you have thrown a pinch of grass in front of me and left me skin and bones. Again, man showed his humanity and gave grass to those who ate grass and meat to those who ate meat. I would not touch a hair on his head,” he said. The prince went away from there too. This time the giant called to the stream:

“The brook, the brook! Bloody stream! Swell your waters, don’t let these human beings out!”

The creek responded with its tongue:

“I can’t do anything bad to him. You do not always drink my water because it is ‘bloody stream’. However, he drank it saying, ‘Oh, what clean water’ and made me happy. Let him pass, may his path be clear!” The prince crossed the stream and entered the rose garden.

The giant called again from behind:

“Roses, roses! Roses with thorns! Show your ingenuity, remove your thorns. Hold this human being, don’t let go!”

The roses also came to their senses and answered the giant in unison: “You did not deign to smell us for a single day. You always insulted us as ‘thorny roses’. However, this young man did not look at our thorns. He did not care that his hands were bleeding. He plucked one from us and smelled it as ‘what beautiful roses’. He made us happy. May Allah make him happy too. May he have good luck!” they said.

The prince hurried away without looking back. The tired prince sat under a tree to catch his breath. He cut one of the lemons. The next thing he knew, out of the lemon came a girl as beautiful as the fourteenth of the moon. Before the prince could make sense of it, the girl called out, “Water, water!” The prince immediately looked around, searched and searched, but could not find a sip of water. Thirsty, the girl flew away like a bird. The prince was a little sad, but he did not lose hope. After resting for a while, he cut the second lemon. An even more beautiful girl came out of it. She called out, “Water, water!” The prince couldn’t find water, so she flew away like a bird. As the prince was getting up to cut the third lemon, he said, “Oh, let me take precautions this time and cut it that way!” So he put the water he had brought from the stream next to it and cut the third lemon. A very beautiful girl came out of that lemon and called out “Water, water!” like the others. The prince immediately handed her the water. After quenching her thirst, the beautiful girl said to the prince: “Thank you, brave young man. If you like me, I will be your bride and groom. But my mother and brothers are in a tent behind that mountain. I cannot go back and forth without being seen by them. You wait here, I will go and come now,” he said.

The prince said, “Fine, go, I’ll wait for you here.” The girl went behind the mountain.

At that moment, a cunning girl passing by saw the prince. He sidled up to the prince: “Assalamu alaykum, what are you doing here?”

After looking her up and down, the prince said: “Alaikum salaam. What the hell, I am waiting for Lemon Girl,” he said.

The cunning girl immediately devised a plan to replace the Lemon Girl. “I know her very well. Won’t you be sad if I tell you that Lemon Girl, who wanted to pass through the mountain, fell into the hands of the giant?”

Prince: “I don’t think a young girl like you would lie. Are you telling the truth?”

Cunning girl: “I wouldn’t tell the truth! Even his mother was going with me, and she turned to me and said, ‘My son, don’t let my son be displeased, at least take this poplar log to him and give it to him. I didn’t care then either. Come on, I’ll go away. You will freeze here in this cold,” he said.

The prince fell for the cunning girl’s words. “In that case, my parents would like a young girl like you,” he said.

Hearing this, the cunning girl’s jaw dropped. She immediately took Lemon Girl’s place and sat on top of the tree. She smiled with pleasure, thinking that her plan had worked. Soon, the prince returned. When he saw the girl at the top of the tree, he immediately called out to her: “Lemon Girl, I’m back! Your wedding dress and everything is ready. Now we can go back to the palace and have our wedding.”

The cunning girl went downstairs and went to the palace with the prince. But everyone in the palace found this new bride strange. The sultan said: “This girl is not Lemon Girl, but my son is stubborn about it. Let me tell you something, let me see.”

Then the sultan said, “My son, let’s get on the horses and go to Lemon Girl’s wedding procession. But the bride who wants to walk in the wedding procession must have a needle and thread in her hand. This is also subject to a condition. If the bride holds the needle and thread tightly in her hand and dangles it until we come in front of her, fine, otherwise there will be no wedding.”

The prince told the cunning girl what the sultan said. When the cunning girl heard this, she sensed that she would be in trouble. “Just in case,” she said, immediately showing her cunning. She took a needle and thread in her hand and ran to do what the sultan said.

The Lemon Girl set out to return home as soon as possible. The prince, the sultan and her mother were tired of waiting for her, and they turned back because there was no other way. No matter how much the Lemon Girl ran, she finally returned home. But when she saw that the cunning girl was in the palace of the prince, she was sad. She did not know what to do. She went to the palace and said to the prince, “If you want, I can get a needle and thread and sew right away.”

The Prince wanted to give her another chance. Lemon Girl took a needle and thread and started sewing immediately. When the prince saw the Lemon Girl’s skill and skill, he fell in love with her. He immediately took her to the palace and told the sultan about the situation. The sultan expelled the cunning girl from the palace and the prince happily married the real Lemon Girl.

And they lived happily ever after.