Nasreddin Khoja, the popular mythical figure who appears in many forms in stories throughout the Middle East and Balkan area.

“Your good father’s wish will be respected,” said the Caliph.  “First, I will lend you one of my camels, so that you have eighteen altogether.  Now, the oldest son will take nine camels, half the total.  The middle son will take six camels, one-third the total.  And the youngest son will take two camels, one-ninth the total.  Nine, six, and two make seventeen, the number of camels your dear father left you.  Before you leave, I’ll simply take back my camel and everyone will be satisfied, including your father, may he rest in peace.”

Another type of tale popular in Susurluk and throughout Turkey is the charter story that purports to explain how things got to be as they are.  Superficially at least, the following charter tale, told to me by an elderly peasant woman, “explains” how the ruins of an old bridge (probably from the Byzantine period) on the Simav River near Susurluk came to be.  More deeply, however, the story conveys messages about the relationship between nature and human beings.

The King and His Bridge

Long before, how many years ago I don’t know, a king and his daughter lived in a house on a hill overlooking Sultancayir village.  The daughter had two rooms.  She sewed in one and made cheese in the other from the milk taken from goats that grazed on the hill.

One day the king said, “I will build a great bridge across the river below.”

He had the bridge built.  Thinking it was so magnificent, he proclaimed that no one, not even God, could destroy it.

One day, however, a small rock went rolling down the hill.  It struck the bridge, breaking its foundations.  Today, all that remains of the bridge is rubble, with the rock sitting on the bank overlooking its destruction.