Timeless Fairy Tales

"Look, they're on vacation again." "Is everyone's spouse like this, or just mine?" Today we all live in front of a shop window: someone's new house, someone's happy family, someone's endless holiday. No one shares their fights, their debts, their tears at night. Tonight we tell an old Anatolian tale: a kind hunchback who joins the fairies' song in an old bathhouse, and an envious hunchback who wants the same gift and goes to the bathhouse the next night. What did the fairies do to the second one?Chapters:00:00 "Look, they're on vacation again"00:24 Living in front of a shop window00:55 The family that kept trying to keep up01:15 Anatolian tale: The Hunchback and the Fairies01:31 The fairies' song in the bathhouse01:52 "Thursday, Friday, Saturday!"02:20 The envious hunchback02:47 "Sunday! Sunday!"03:09 A second hump on the back03:41 Envy: forgetting your own blessings03:59 Quran: Do not wish for what others were favored with04:11 Hadith: Look at those below you04:34 Proverb: "The neighbor's hen looks like a goose"04:50 This week: mute three accountsSources in this episode:• Anatolian folk tale: The Hunchback and the Fairies (two hunchbacks, an old bathhouse and fairies singing at night).• Quran, Surah An-Nisa, verse 32: "Do not wish for that by which God has favored some of you over others. Ask God of His bounty."• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Muslim): "Look at those below you, not at those above you. That is more fitting, so you do not belittle God's blessings upon you."• Hadith (Anas ibn Malik, Bukhari and Muslim): "Do not envy one another, do not turn your backs on one another; O servants of God, be brothers."• Turkish proverb: "The neighbor's hen looks like a goose."• Arabic Quran text on screen: Tanzil.net (Uthmani).💬 Whose life do you envy most, and what is one good thing in your own home today? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.ℹ️ This episode is for general information and spiritual reflection; it does not replace educational or psychological counseling. Voice AI-generated. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

"Dad, when are you coming?" "No leave this summer either, son." In many homes the table is set, yet one chair stays empty; its owner is working far away. Some went to Germany, some to the big city, some to a distant building site. "A few years" often became a lifetime. Tonight we hear a story from the Book of Dede Korkut: Bamsi Beyrek is taken captive on his wedding night and spends sixteen years in a dungeon, while Banu Chichek waits for him. When everyone said "Beyrek is dead," it was a ring that made him known again.Chapters:00:00 "Dad, when are you coming?"00:29 The empty chair: distance as the fate of many families01:03 "Dad, we wanted you"01:24 Dede Korkut tells: Bamsi Beyrek01:41 A raid on the wedding night01:55 Sixteen years in the dungeon02:09 The liar's bloody shirt02:27 Coming home as a minstrel02:42 The gold ring03:01 The waiting ring: a voice from home03:26 Loyalty to the one away, thanks to the one who waits03:47 Quran: The patience of Prophet Jacob04:00 Hadith: When your business is done, go home04:16 Dede Korkut: "Who kept this passing world?"04:37 This week: send your voice, not moneySources in this episode:• Book of Dede Korkut, the tale of Bamsi Beyrek: his captivity, Banu Chichek's waiting and the recognition by the ring.• Quran, Surah Yusuf, verse 86 (words of Prophet Jacob): "I complain of my grief and sorrow only to God."• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Bukhari and Muslim): "Travel is a piece of torment; it keeps you from your sleep, your food and your drink. When one of you finishes his business, let him hurry back to his family."• Saying of Dede Korkut: "Where are the lords who said, the world is mine? Death took them, the earth hid them. Who kept this passing world?"• Arabic Quran text: Tanzil.net (Uthmani).💬 Are you living far from home, or waiting for someone who is? Who will you send your voice to this week? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.ℹ️ This episode is for general information and spiritual reflection; it does not replace educational or psychological counseling. Voice AI-generated. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

"Me, apologize? Never!" "I'm the one who's right, let them come." Many homes grow cold when both say at once: "Let the other bow first." We tell the legend of Yunus Emre: the question "Wheat or a blessing?" at Haji Bektash Veli's door, the perfectly straight firewood he carried to Taptuk Emre's dervish lodge for forty years, and the morning the hurt Yunus lay down on the threshold. We talk about the words Taptuk Emre said that morning and why apologizing never makes anyone smaller.Chapters:00:00 "Me, apologize?"00:12 The story of Yunus Emre00:23 Words that won't come00:51 My father's apology01:12 A legend: The crooked wood01:25 At Haji Bektash Veli's door01:46 "Take the wheat, give me the blessing."02:05 Forty years at Taptuk Emre's lodge02:16 "Crooked wood doesn't suit this door."02:37 Lie down on the threshold02:52 "Our Yunus?"03:04 Our Yunus03:28 Quran: Do not be arrogant03:42 Hadith: Whoever humbles himself for God03:54 The one who forgives is great too04:15 "A bowed head is never cut." and this week's task04:44 To apologize is to lie down on a thresholdSources in this episode:• Legend of Yunus Emre: Haji Bektash Veli's question "Wheat or a blessing?", forty years of straight firewood for Taptuk Emre's lodge, and the threshold.• Quran, Surah Luqman, verse 18.• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Muslim): "Whoever humbles himself for God's sake, God raises him."• Turkish proverb: "A bowed head is never cut."• Arabic Quran text on screen: Tanzil.net (Uthmani).💬 Is there someone you're waiting on to come first? Will you take the first step this week? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.ℹ️ This episode is for general information and spiritual reflection; it does not replace educational or psychological counseling. Images AI-generated, voice AI-generated. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

"This house is too small for us." "The neighbors moved, and we're still here." A house is rarely narrow; what's narrow is the hearts inside. We tell a tale of Nasreddin Hodja: a villager living with eight people in a single room asks the Hodja for advice. First the Hodja says, "Take the chickens inside." Then the goat, then the donkey. The next day the villager comes back with a beaming face: "It's as if we moved into a palace!" We talk about the worth of what we have and how gratitude makes a home wide.Chapters:00:00 "This house is too small for us."00:13 A tale of Nasreddin Hodja00:24 Our eyes are always on others00:52 What I learned in a hospital corridor01:19 Nasreddin Hodja tells: The house that felt too small01:41 "Take the chickens inside."02:06 "Do you have a donkey? Let it in too."02:22 A night in a single room02:35 "Now take them all out."02:47 "As if we moved into a palace!"03:00 A changed view03:28 Seeing without bringing in the goat03:47 Quran: If you are grateful, I will increase you04:01 Hadith: As if the whole world were given to him04:16 Yunus Emre: Goods are false, land is false04:30 This week's task: The gratitude table04:51 Gratitude widens a homeSources in this episode:• Tale of Nasreddin Hodja: The villager whose house felt too small (the chickens, the goat and the donkey).• Quran, Surah Ibrahim, verse 7.• Hadith (Ubaydullah ibn Mihsan al-Ansari, Tirmidhi): "Whoever among you wakes up safe in his home, healthy in body, and has food for that day, it is as if the whole world were given to him."• Yunus Emre: "Goods are false, land is false."💬 If you had to say at dinner tonight what you're grateful for, what would it be? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.ℹ️ This episode is for general information and spiritual reflection; it does not replace educational or psychological counseling. Voice AI-generated. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

"Did you hear what's going on in their house?" "Don't tell anyone, but..." To destroy the peace of a home, sometimes a single sentence whispered through a crack in the door is enough. We tell a story they tell in Anatolia: a woman who spread gossip about her neighbor regrets it and goes to the town's old hodja. The hodja gives her strange advice: "Take a feather pillow, tear it open on the hill, and scatter the feathers to the wind." We talk about the hodja's real lesson and the atonement for gossip.📖 Sources in the video:• Anatolian folk tale: The pillow feathers (the gossiping woman and the town's hodja).• Quran, Surah al-Hujurat, verse 12.• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Muslim): "Do you know what backbiting is?"• Advice attributed to Haji Bektash Veli: "Guard hand, tongue, and loins."• Arabic Quran text on screen: Tanzil.net (Uthmani).💬 A word you heard with "Don't tell anyone" – how many people did it reach afterwards? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.May God keep you.

"You're always like this!" "I wish I'd never married you!" A sentence spoken in anger lasts a few seconds; but in the other person's heart it sometimes stays a lifetime. We tell an old story from Anatolia: a woodcutter hosts his friend, the bear, at his home, then laughs at him in front of everyone. The next morning the bear hands him the axe: "Strike my head." We talk about what the bear shows the woodcutter months later, and what this story says about the words spoken in our homes.Chapters:00:00 "You're always like this!"00:22 The word that doesn't pass00:38 You forgot, they didn't00:51 My son's unfinished picture01:14 Anatolia tells: The woodcutter and the bear01:38 The bear at the table02:00 A "joke" in front of everyone02:12 "Take your axe, strike my head."02:39 Months later: the scar02:58 The wound of the tongue03:30 Quran: Say what is best03:41 Hadith: Speak good or stay silent03:58 Ahmed Yesevi: Speak gently04:21 This week's task: a note of apology04:39 Hadith: "Do not become angry."05:11 The axe cuts wood, words cut the heartSources in this episode:• Anatolian folk tale: The woodcutter and the bear.• Turkish proverb: "A sword's wound heals, a tongue's wound does not."• Quran, Surah al-Isra, verse 53.• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Bukhari and Muslim): "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent."• Hadith (Abu Hurairah, Bukhari): "Do not become angry."• Ahmed Yesevi, Divan-i Hikmet (in today's words).💬 Is there a word you said in anger that you'd like to take back today? Tell us in the comments; no one is judged here.ℹ️ This episode is for general information and spiritual reflection; it does not replace educational or psychological counseling. Voice AI-generated. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

What do you fight about most at home? The dishes, money, the kids? Tonight we listen to a tiny story from Rumi's Masnavi, told seven hundred and fifty years ago: four travelers who come to blows over a single silver coin. One said "engür", one "ineb", one "üzüm", one "istafil"... So why, when we want the same thing at home, can't we understand each other?📖 Sources:• Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, Masnavi, Book 2: the story of the four men who quarreled over grapes.• Yunus Emre: "A word can end a war, a word can cost a head; a word can turn a poisoned dish into honey and butter."💬 Which "grape" causes the most fights in your home? Tonight, ask once: "What do you really want?" and tell us in the comments how it went.ℹ️ The voice is an AI voice. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you, my child...

"Look, the neighbor's son came top of his class. Why can't you?" How many times have you heard that sentence, and how many times have you perhaps said it without noticing? Tonight we listen to a story from the Gulistan (The Rose Garden) by Saadi of Shiraz, written seven hundred years ago: the story of a short prince whom his father looked down on beside his tall elder brothers. When the day of battle came, who stood his ground?📖 Sources:• Saadi of Shiraz, Gulistan (The Rose Garden), Chapter 1 (On the Manners of Kings), Story 3: the short prince.• Yunus Emre: "The heart is God's throne, the heart is God's fortune; wretched in both worlds is whoever breaks a heart."💬 Who were you compared with most as a child? This week, find a beauty in your child that no one else has, tell them, and share in the comments how they reacted.ℹ️ The voice is an AI voice. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you, my child...

"Shh, the neighbors will hear!" "Sit up properly, what will people say?" We have all heard these words, and we have all said them. But where is the child in them? Tonight we tell the famous story of Nasreddin Hodja, the wise jester of Anatolian folk tales, his son and a donkey: if the boy rides, people talk; if the Hodja rides, people talk; if both ride, people talk even more... Along with the moral of the story, a verse from Surah al-An'am, two hadiths from al-Tirmidhi and from Bukhari and Muslim, and some gentle advice about living for your child rather than for other people.📖 Sources:• The story: a Nasreddin Hodja tale (father and son on the donkey), Anatolian folk tradition.• Quran, Surah al-An'am, verse 116: "If you obey most of those on earth, they will lead you astray from the path of Allah."• Hadith (al-Tirmidhi, Zuhd): "Whoever seeks the pleasure of Allah at the cost of people's anger, Allah will protect him from the people. And whoever seeks the pleasure of people at the cost of Allah's anger, Allah will leave him to the people."• Hadith (Bukhari, Muslim): "Each of you is a shepherd, and each of you is responsible for his flock."• Turkish proverb: "Not everyone's mouth is a sack you can tie shut."💬 Have you ever told your child "what will people say"? Looking back now, what would you want to tell them? Share with us in the comments.ℹ️ The voice is an AI voice. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you.

"Be quiet already! How many times do I have to tell you!" The yelling lasts a minute; the silence after it sometimes lasts for years. Tonight we listen to a story from the Book of Dede Korkut, the great epic of the Oghuz Turks: the story of Dirse Khan, who believes the whispers of the envious and shoots his son with an arrow without ever asking him; of Burla Hatun, who heals her son with mountain flowers and mother's milk; and of Boghach, who in the end saves his father.📖 Sources:• The Book of Dede Korkut, "The Story of Boghach Khan, Son of Dirse Khan".• Quran, Surah Luqman 31:19: "Be moderate in your pace and lower your voice."• Quran, Surah Al Imran 3:134: "...who restrain their anger and pardon people. Allah loves those who do good."• Hadith: "The strong one is not the one who overcomes others in wrestling; the strong one is the one who controls himself when angry." (Bukhari, Adab 76; Muslim, Birr 107)• Hadith: "If one of you becomes angry while standing, let him sit down; if the anger leaves him, well and good; otherwise let him lie down." (Abu Dawud, Adab 4, no. 4782)• Zayn al-Abidin (Ali ibn Husayn) forgiving his servant: an account handed down in classical works of ethics and history.• Yusuf Khass Hajib, Kutadgu Bilig (1069–1070): "The tongue is a lion, see, it lies at the threshold; O master of the house, beware, it will devour your head."• Turkish proverb: "An arrow that has left the bow and a word that has left the mouth never come back."💬 As a child, what did you feel most when someone yelled at you? This week, swallow your anger once, take a breath, and tell us in the comments what changed.ℹ️ The voice is an AI voice. The narrator's memories are part of the storytelling.May God keep you, my child...