Paper Ships

I put a basil leaf between two pages. This is the first letter of the tale. Because I will build a giant forest under it. The first line you read will take you to a misty path hit by the morning sun. You will walk gently among the shrub roses and oleanders tangled around the trees. The mist rising from the ground said, "Salute the plane trees!" he will whisper. Then you will stop and look again at the trees surrounding you. Once again and with new eyes. You will be surprised with how pure happiness they spring from the soil. This will be your first time seeing the miracle called tree. You will inhale the smell of wet soil. The sun in the dew drops will dazzle your eyes.

When you see the deer and the tiger watering from the same river, the sun and the moon walking arm in arm in the sky, you will understand that the currency here is mercy and the language is love.

Ayşegül Çelik's stories, which were deemed worthy of the 2010 Yunus Nadi Short Story Award, open up to a fairy-tale world. The author imperceptibly draws the reader, who thinks he has stepped into a fairy tale, into today's violent world with stories that flow from dreams to reality. Traveling from thousands of years old Anatolian legends to the present, to familiar stories, Paper Ships competently represents the language and structure of the modern story. It's all in the fairy tale, the fairy tale is in it all... A world created by Ayşegül Çelik that you won't want to leave the moment you enter the door...