Once There Was and Twice There Wasn't: Turkish Tales

by Barbara K. Walker, Gordon Kibbee (Illustrator)

Seven Turkish tales of Keloglan, "a kind of Jack, Cinderlad, Ali Baba, and Brave Little Tailor all rolled into one."

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Turkish folktales I'm most familiar with are the humorous Hodja stories. The tales in this book are about another Turkish folk hero, Keloglan, the bald-headed boy. Apparently, there is a skin disease that creates bald boys, so the term can be a proper name or a nickname. Keloglan can be either clever or rather stupid, but is always lucky and good-hearted. I enjoyed these humorous stories, my favorite being "Keloglan the Kindhearted." Thanks to Open Library for introducing me to this folk character. Recommended.