A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

In Kúnos and Bain’s “Mad Mehmed,” the traveller drops some of his snack into a wayside spring and repeatedly demands its return. A Jinn rises, described with an upper lip sweeping the sky and a lower lip hiding the earth. Instead of returning the food, he brings up a little table that produces meals on command. Mehmed uses it to feed villagers, who steal it. On his next visit to the spring, the Jinn gives him a mill that yields gold when turned one way and silver when turned the other; this too is stolen.

At the third appeal the Jinn gives two sticks and expressly warns Mehmed not to command them to strike. Mehmed nevertheless does so and is beaten until he discovers a stopping command. He then uses the sticks against the villagers to recover both earlier gifts. The story ends with Mehmed returning home, sharing his older treasure with his brother and marrying; no further appearance or fate is given for the Jinn. The sticks’ first attack is not described as a new intervention by their donor. The spirit has no personal name, and neither a lamp nor a fixed number of wishes appears in this account.

Spring dwellingEnormous lipsThree successive magical giftsWarning about striking sticks
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Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through Hungarian and English publication

02

Records & interpretation

Complete English tale and all three attached notes read, including the separate early human episodes and final return.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

    Ignácz Kúnos (collector); R. Nisbet Bain (translator from Hungarian) · 1901

    “Mad Mehmed,” pp. 42–52; Jinn episode pp. 48–52; footnotes 6–8. London: A. H. Bullen. Preface dates July 1896 and identifies the Hungarian1889 intermediary.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete English tale and all attached notes read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. Mad Mehmed, pp. 42–52; main Jinn episode48–52; footnotes6–8

Cache kunos-bain-4.txt (13403 characters), masterkunos-bain.html. Full early inheritance/accidental mother killing/master episodes and final reunion read; Jinn only later springdonor. Note7 glosses lebleb as roasted pepper (not independently validated modernfoodidentity); note8 glosses milldisappearance idiom. No treegold asactualtree-spirit inference, no original-language collation.

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References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical English folktale translation through HungarianKúnos/Bain1901, Mad MehmedResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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