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îñ"ò îøëæ ñéôåøé òí åôåì÷ìåø |
C. F. F Center of Folktales and Folklore |
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The Folktale Corner The Sultan
and the Ramadan A Jewish
folktale from Bulgaria Retold by
Yoel Perez One
day unrest began in the kingdom of the sultan People began to talk
against the sultan: the sultan is not good; the sultan does not fulfill his
duties to his people as he should do. And
why it is so? Ah! There is a fruit in our world – nice to the eye, tasty to
the mouth, perfect in its form, unique in its beauty – cherry is its name. But that is the trouble: one just began to enjoy its fine
form and its praised taste, and look: one month passed and there are no more
cherries in the market! One should wait a whole year till they come back and
be available, and how comes that His Majesty, the sultan, that has a word in
the upper world, does not lift a finger, does nothing in order that cherries
would be available not only one month in the year, but two months, three
months or even more! People began to
talk against the sultan. One man talked then another, then ten people, then
the whole town. The kingdom is not calm any more. The news come from every
place: "Your majesty, rebellion is designed! What are you going to do?" The sultan
assembled all his advisers. One says one thing, another says something else. At last
an old adviser stood up and said: "Your majesty, I have an advice that
can save your life if the situation aggravates!" "Go ahead and
talk!" said the sultan "Well, in the
Jewish quarter there is a Jewish shoemaker by the name of Solomon, and he –
far from you (an idiom that people say when they mention something bad or
loathsome) – is resembling you in his form and his face like two drops of
water. My advice is that you should bring here this man, put a royal cloak on
his shoulders, a crown on his head and make him the sultan instead of you,
that is to say, a stunt person. And if, God forbid, there is a rebellion and
the people attack the palace, he will be your atonement – they will kill him
instead of you!" "Very well," said the sultan,
"hurry, bring him here!"
The messengers hurried to the Jewish quarter: "Are you Solomon
the shoemaker?" "Yes, it's me." "Come with us to the palace!" "But why? What did I do
wrong?" "Don't ask questions! The sultan
wants you!" The poor one – what he can do? He went
with them. They arrive to the palace. They put a
royal cloak on his shoulders, a crown on his head. "You are the
sultan!" "I – sultan?" "Yes!" "And I can do whatever I
want?" "What do you want to do?" "Well, you know, a few days ago I
stumbled at the street, I almost fell down if not a kind woman gave me her
arm. I want to reward her for her kindness – 50 gold coins – can I do
it?" "You are the sultan! Give an order
and she will receive it!" Then he said:
"You know – I have a cousin. He is very smart, but somehow he fells over and over in his business. I want to push him forwards
– 200 gold coins. Is it possible?" "You are the sultan! Give an order
and he will receive it!" So he began to
scatter the royal treasures – give money to friends, to relatives, to poor
people – in one word – sultan! Then a thought came to his mind:
"Not long ago my rival, a shoemaker opened a shop in the other side of
the street. Can I close his business?" "You are the sultan! Give an
order." So he gave an
order and the shop was shut.
Then, one day, a delegation on behalf of the people came
to the palace to discuss the cherries issue. "Let them
in!" They come in, they stand before him, prostrate
themselves at his feet: "your majesty, you know, there is a big problem:
the people want cherries not only one month in the year, and you do nothing.
The situation is very fragile. You must do something!" He listens to them then he says: "Come back in two weeks and I'll give you my
answer." Two weeks later the delegation comes
once again: "Your majesty, the situation aggravates from day to day! We
are afraid that we cannot stop the crowds from attacking the royal
palace!" "Do not worry. I spoke with Him.
There is a solution. You want cherries two months every year?
Three months? The whole year?
You'll get it!" "The whole year? It is marvelous!
We are going to herald the good news!" "Wait! Wait a moment! There is a small
problem." "And what is it, your
majesty." "Well, you see, the cherries and
the Ramadan – the Ramadan fast – are connected in strong connection. They cannot be separated! If you want two months of cherries,
you must fast two months of Ramadan. You want three months or even the whole year? Fine, it is possible, but you have to pay the price.
Now think twice and bring me your decision tomorrow morning!" Whole night they discussed the issue. In
the morning they came back: "Your majesty, one
month of Ramadan is hard enough, not say two or three. Let the state remain
as it is…" So that is the reason why till today in
every year there is one month of Ramadan and one month of cherries. Because
you know people, life – if you did not understand it yet – is a package-deal! _____________________
This folktale from the Judeo-Espaniol tradition was collected in Bulgaria and written down by Itshak Moscona in
his book "Stories of the Spanish Jews". Many years ago I translated his book from Ladino into Hebrew. The
version that I bring here is the form that I gave this story in my
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