In western Turkey stands the fortress of Chamlibel where the mighty bandit Korolu lived three hundred years ago. He rode a magical horse named Kirat and led a band of more than seven hundred men; when he was moved to anger by injustice, to merriment by his own guile, or to sorrow by the kidnapping of his beloved gray horse, he plucked the strings of his long-necked saz and sang a song to fit his mood.

Wealth gave men the power of life and death in the days of Korolu. He became an outlaw to avenge his father, who had been blinded by a great landowner, the Bey of Bolu. Korolu rescued Ayvaz from a thief and made the boy his son, and in the forbidden palace of a sultan he found a beautiful princess for his bride. His name meant terror to the rich and protection to the poor long before the day he finally dealt justice to the powerful Bey.

Children of Turkey all know tales of the fierce and noble bandit, who was given a warning in his youth that held the seed of his unhappy fate. The story of Korolu emerges in a heroic pattern, against a background that is exciting and rich in the atmosphere of his own land.

From the dust jacket