Turkish folk tales in this collection are curious and bizarre, beautiful and delightful, combining elements of ancient Anatolian folklore with Slavonic, Scandinavian and Arabian influences. Entertaining and exuberant, they shame the more prosaic fairy stories of other traditions with tales such as 'How Cobbler Ahmet Became the Chief Astrologer', 'The Horse-Devil and the Witch', 'How the Devil lost his Wager', 'The Prayer Rug and the Dishonest Steward', 'Paradise Sold by the Yard', 'The Cinder-Youth', 'The Metamorphosis' and 'The Forty Princes and the Seven-Headed Dragon'.
