Sixty at a Blow: A Tall Tale from Turkey

It all started when Mustafa's wife mocked him for his great timidity. In his rage, he swept his old knife through a swarm of flies, and with a single blow killed sixty. When he attacked them a second time, his score was seventy.

He got the bright idea of having the following inscription engraved on his knife: At a single blow Kara Mustafa, the grea thero, has killed sixty, and at the second blow, seventy. Then he set out to seek his fortune.

The theme of Sixty at a Blow runs like a bright thread through folktales from all around the world, tales in which an ordinary man – not a prince, or even the ever-fortunate youngest son of three – wins his way, through fiercesome dangers, to fame and fortune.

In the illustrations Christine Price has caught the flavor and style of the miniature paintings in old Turkish manuscripts. The clear, bright colors and a full measure of wit and humor are just right for this amusing tale.