Baš Čelik: A Serbian Fairy Tale

As we near the end of December and the zenith of the holiday season, the magic of this time of year is palpable in the air. What better time of year to read about one of Serbia’s most famous fairy tales, Baš Čelik?

Baš Čelik, meaning “head of steel” from the Turkish baş for “head” and çelik for “steel,” is an ancient Serbian folk tale that is actually quite similar to the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, “The Crystal Orb.” According to legend, a king had three sons and three daughters. On his deathbed, the king made his sons swear to marry off their sisters to the first person who asked. One night a mysterious booming voice demanded that one sister be given to him. Two of the brothers were reluctant to hand their sister over, while the youngest brother handed her over to be married to the mysterious stranger, abiding by his father’s deathbed wish. For the next two nights, the same thing happened again and again until all three sisters were married to mysterious strangers. After the final sister was married off, the three brother decided to go out in search of their sisters.

Throughout their travels to find their sisters, the brothers encountered many obstacles, including serpents with many heads and giants that eat human flesh. During these travels, one of the brothers saved a princess from the giant’s village and a snake bite as she lay in bed. As thanks, the princess’s father, the King, allowed the brother to marry the princess. The brother quickly became one of the King’s chosen ones.

After moving into the King’s castle, the brother realized that he was allowed to enter every room in the castle save one, a room that was bound with chains. Of course, the brother could not resist the temptation of the one forbidden room and one day when his wife was gone from the castle he entered the chained room.

Kept inside the room, bound by chains, was a man who called himself Baš Čelik. Baš Čelik begged the brother for three glass of water, and for each glass he promised an additional life for each glass. After providing Baš Čelik with the third and final glass, the man seemed to suddenly gain inhuman strength and broke free of the chains binding him. Sprouting wings, Baš Čelik took off into the air, snatching up the brother’s wife and flying away.

Thus, the brother set off on a new quest to rescue his wife, the princess. Along his journey to rescue his wife he stopped in the kingdoms of the Lords of Dragons, Hawks, and Eagles. Each Lord attempted to dissuade the price from finding Baš Čelik, advising that he was too powerful and that defeating him was an impossible task.

But the young prince refused to listen, repeatedly demanding that each Lord help him defeat Baš Čelik. Three times the Lords give in, providing the prince with an army in the hopes that this time he would be able to defeat Baš Čelik. Alas, the prince was defeated by Baš Čelik three times — each time losing one of the lives that Baš Čelik dispensed him in exchange for glasses of water. On the fourth attempt to defeat Baš Čelik and win back his wife, the prince was defeated and died a true death.

However, with a little bit of magic water from the River Jordan, the prince was brought back to life, and with a stroke of luck, his captured wife discovered that Baš Čelik could not be killed. Instead, because he stored his life in a bird that is in a heart of a fox in a forest of a high mountain, the prince had to find the fox and destroy it to defeat Baš Čelik. Finally, with the help of all the Lords and a little magic, the prince was able to find the fox, defeat Baš Čelik, and rescue his wife.

And they all lived happily ever after.