Jirtdan-The Little Boy Who Fought Monsters

Nothing bad will happen if we're stuck here overnight.

Today, by request, we're looking at a fairytale from Azerbaijan. Jirtdan-The Little Boy Who Fought Monsters is about a tiny boy who has a lot of cunning.

I have to admit, at the beginning of this story, I was not a fan of Jirtdan. He makes his friends do all of the work when they're cutting wood and he won't even walk home! It's possible that Jirtdan was too little, but I think he's getting all he can out of his friends. In any case, the boys are caught in the forest in the dark and they end up at a human-eating giant's house. As one does.

It made me laugh every time the div came into the room and asked if everyone were asleep. Jirtdan got himself dinner out of the deal instead of being dinner. Then Jirtdan asked the div to bring him water in a sieve from the river. The div must have been incredibly tired, hungry, or dumb to even try this. However, he wanted all of those boys to fall asleep so he could eat them, gosh darn it. So, he went to the river to try to bring back some water in a sieve.

The boys make it across the river, but Jirtdan is not done besting the div. The div asks how he can get across the river, and Jirtdan gives him deadly advice. I'm not sure why the div listened to advice from someone who wanted water in a sieve, but he was probably too out of sorts at this point to question it. It was the last mistake the div would make. By this point, I kind of feel bad for him. All he wanted was to eat these children and instead he has to be a servant for them and then ends up drowning. And he never got his dinner!

Throughout the story, Jirtdan is clever and ruthless. Not only did he use his friends when it didn't really matter when they were cutting wood, but even after he knew the div was going to eat them, he made sure that he got something out of the giant first before escaping with his friends. He didn't share his eggs either. What a jerk.

The moral of this story would have to be to make sure you're either not good enough friends with the clever kid in town to get dragged into these messes, or that you're such good friends that he won't possibly leave you behind.