The Third Dervish’s Tale

Notable Characters

  • The third dervish
  • The young man
  • The blind men in the copper palace
  • The women in the mountain palace
  • The black horse with wings

Plot Summary

The third dervish was on a journey and became the only survivor out of all his men. According to his fate, he knocked a brass horseman down, which killed him. He watched as a ship approached an island, and a young man was led into a trapdoor and left there by himself.

The dervish went to ask about the young man. He discovered that the young man was fated to be killed by the same man as the one who killed the brass horseman, and even gave the name of the dervish. The dervish was convinced that he would never do such a thing, so he stayed to keep the young man company.

One day, the dervish accidentally dropped a knife, and it landed on the young man, killing him. The dervish fled and eventually came across a copper palace filled with men who were blind in their right eyes. Amazed by this, he demanded to know how this happened to all of them.

The gave him instructions to be carried in a sack and then to walk until he found the palace on the mountain. Once he was there, he was greeted by forty girls who served him and treated him well. Each night, he would take a different girl to bed, rotating girls each night (I’m not even going to get into how yikes that is).

One day, the girls had to go on a journey for forty nights, and the dervish had to stay in the palace. They told him he could explore all of the chambers except for one of them. So what does he do? That’s right. After looking through all the other chambers, he opens the one that is forbidden.

Inside, he finds a black horse and tries to ride it. The horse suddenly has wings and flies away. The horse winds up kicking the dervish in the head, blinding him in the right eye like the other men. Defeated, he went back to the copper palace, but the other men told him he had to leave. He wandered around until he found the other two dervishes, and they decided to travel together before stopping at the ladies’ house.