The activity book to accompany the Tilki Sultan story contains simple colouring of some of the characters and a basic patterns, with instructions, for making and decorating a ‘kaftan’. Younger children may need help with some of the cutting and sewing.
Please find below text for each of the pieces, listed;
- Turkish Tales No.1; Romani Tales from Other Lands – Tilki Sultan
- Turkish Tales No.2; Romani Tales from Other Lands – Pale As Ashes
- Turkish Tales No.3; Romani Tales from Other Lands – Nasreddin Hodja Stories
- Traveller’s Tales No.1; Romani Stories from the Past – Tattercoats
- Turkish Tales Activity Book – Tilki Sultan
1. Turkish Tales No.1; Romani Tales from Other Lands – Tilki Sultan[Community] This is a tale about a Turkish sultan in the old days of the Ottoman Empire who is transformed into a fox (tilki) by a wicked minister (vezir) and left in a deep, dark forest, who is surprised to find help and friendship amongst the woodland creatures. Will he regain his human shape and recover his throne and palace? Read the story to find out…[Teachers, educators] This story is one based upon the many tales told by Romani storytellers, before the advent of broadcasting, in Turkish homes, coffee shops and tea houses, traditionally the places where entertainment such as storytelling, puppetry and performance took place. Male and female storytellers would relate their tales to differing groups of listeners; men in the coffee shops and tea houses, women in the family apartments and homes. Motifs of transformation, good rulers (sultans) and wicked ministers (vezirs) are common in many Turkish stories and the clever fox (tilki) is a frequent figure in these stories, though the other animal characters are less so. The basis for this story was recorded during field work amongst the many Turkish Romani and Traveller communities, 2005 – 2010, by Dr Adrian Marsh and his research team (including Prof. Thomas Acton) as part of an ESRC Fellowship charting the aspirations of Romani and Traveller people in Turkey and research carried out for the European Roma Rights Centre, the British Council in Turkey and the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul. The story was written by Dr Adrian Marsh
2. Turkish Tales No.2; Romani Tales from Other Lands – Pale As Ashes[Community] Tricky genies (djinns), demons (iblis, ifrit) and other fantastic characters feature in this story about a kind young prince (shezade) and his attempts to rescue a Romani blacksmith’s daughter from a terrible fate. Will the kind and generous prince discover his true love in the heart of Anatolia (Asia Minor); can he save her from a many-headed dragon and other demons and will the genie prove a ally or a false friend? Will the courage of the prince be enough? Read the story and discover the tale…[Teachers, educators] Versions of this story were collected by Gypsylorists of the nineteenth-century, such as Francis Hindes Groom, featuring dead men and racially stereotypical characters interpolated by the collectors. Modern versions of this story, collected in Romani and Traveller neighbourhoods and tents across Anatolia and Thrace (2006 – 2008), indicate the origins of this tale in the ancient Iranian and Hebrew tales of Tobit and the archangel Raphael (Israfil), mixed with Turkish folklore regarding Roman and Byzantine ruins being the habitation of ghosts and malevolent spirits. Genies (djinns) and demons (iblis, ifrit) feature in many Turkish stories, both ancient and modern, even in novels about growing up in modern, rural Turkey by writers such as Latife Tekin (see her ‘Dear, Shameless Death’, 2001). This version is written and adapted by Dr Adrian Marsh from Turkish Romani originals.
3. Turkish Tales No.3; Romani Stories from Other Lands – Nasreddin Hodja Stories[Community] The antics of Nasreddin Hodja and his friends and family (including his clever, talking donkey) are famous across the Muslim and Arabic world, but nowhere more so than in his homeland of Turkey. In these stories, Nasreddin Hodja helps a young beggar find self-respect, keeps himself warm by staring at a candle on a cold winter night, seeks legal advice from his donkey and feeds a rich dinner to his best velvet coat! Why does he do these things? Read the stories about this historical character and learn how he is still remembered every year at a special festival in Turkey…[Teachers, educators] Nasreddin Hodja was a Muslim jurist (kadı) in 13th century Anatolia, during the earliest days of the Saldjuk and Ottoman Empires, when nomadic Turkmen and Yörük peoples migrated into Anatolia after defeating the Byzantine Empire, fundamentally changing the region’s ethnic, cultural and religious context, with far-reaching implications to the present day. These wisdom stories offer a humanist, humorous and wry examination of the character of people at any time in history and remain relevant today as they were nine hundred years ago. Enjoyed by children of all ages and their families, Nasreddin Hodja is a philosopher, trickster and teacher, critic of social injustice and inequality with something to tell us in these times that reminds us that, however far we may have changed in terms of the technology and tools that we surround ourselves with, we remain very much the same as we have always been – human and fallible…
4. Travellers’ Tales No.1; Romani Stories from the Past – Tattercoats[Community] A young Welsh princess grows up in a castle with her father and step-mother and two selfish sisters. Despite the cruelty of her siblings and having only the fortune tellers and tumblers for friends, along with the birds and beasts of the forest, she is a smiling, gentle soul. That is until her step-mother dies and she mistakenly places the royal queen’s ring on her finger, which the law says makes her the king’s next bride. Escaping the awful consequences of such a fate, she wanders the land in her coat made from twigs, leaves, scraps of fabric, fur and feathers, – her Tattercoats – she finds herself in another palace, in the kitchens, when the young prince announces a ball. How can she go? Will she meet the prince? Read the tale of Tattercoats find out…[Teachers, educators] An old English Gypsy tale whose origins date back centuries, this tale of forced marriage avoided and happiness found was most famously recorded and edited by Angela Carter in her first collection of fairy tales for Virago Books (1991). It’s also here that an Iraqi story, ‘The Princess in the Suit of Leather’, provides us with the clue to how many ‘fairy’ stories arrived in western Europe with the migration of Romani people from East to West during the previous millennia, as the story has very similar themes and characters. The topic of young women’s rights to choose their marriage partners, as opposed to their parents’ compulsion, is one that is still very much relevant to modern gender relations. This story has been rewritten by Dr Adrian Marsh…
5. Tilki Sultan Activity Book[Community] You can colour in the pictures, cut them out to make puppets and make your own kaftan! Just follow the instructions to create some of the characters from the story. Ask your parents or carers for help with the more difficult cutting and sticking, if you need to.You will need:
- scissors for paper and fabric
- felt (bright colours)
- sewing thread and needles
- colouring pencils or felt-tip pens
- a wooden bead
- string or coloured twine
- (optional) garden stakes for the animal character puppets
- sticky tape