Today I read Osman Şahin´s "Mahşer(Last Judgement)." It is a story book. There are two short and one long story that includes 8 sub-stories. When you look at the stories in general, you see a smooth and fabulous telling with great pastoral images. The long story(Last Judgement) that gave its name to book is reminding me "One Thousand And One Nights" tales. In this story the teller whose name is Huma was stuck in a cave with his dead husband and three bandits and she told folk tales to distract them because she could get raped. Each tale she told was about one famous bandit. She told the tales without knowing they belong to those bandits. Bandits were surprised. They thought that Huma was some kind of a mysterious woman maybe even a witch. And they left the cave without touching her.

The interesting thing is each blood-thirsty bandit had a tragic life that turned them into monsters. While Huma was telling their stories, they faced with their pasts and relived them. This was like a catharsis. As a reader I felt their sorrows.

As I mentioned before the telling is both "fabulous" as metaphorical and literal. It was a long time since I have read such great stories. The author has also a story book which contains 13 chosen stories of him translated into English. The title of the book is "Tales From The Taurus" You can get it if you want. Have a nice day.

Note: Huma is also name of a legendary bird.