# The Poor Turkey Girl — Zuni Folktales character guide

> The Poor Turkey Girl in Zuni Folktales by Frank Hamilton Cushing.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Turkey, the young Turkey

**First appearance:** 0006-the-poor-turkey-girl

## Snapshot

A poor girl who tends turkeys and is never permitted to join the dances, until the birds themselves offer her a transformation beyond imagining.

## Who they are

The Poor Turkey Girl drives her flock through the plazas of Mátsaki, watching the people prepare for the Dance of the Sacred Bird while she remains ugly and ill-clad, excluded from every festival. Her loneliness is softened only by the conversations she holds with her turkeys, never dreaming they understand her longing. When the old Gobbler finally speaks, offering to dress her so beautifully that no one will recognize her, her tale becomes a meditation on temperance, gratitude, and the fragile line between good fortune and its loss.

## In the story

### [Zuni Folktales](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/chapters/zuni-folktales)

Protagonist in a tale of longing and transformation.

### [The Poor Turkey Girl](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/chapters/the-poor-turkey-girl)

A humble, impoverished maiden who herds turkeys; she is transformed by the turkeys but loses them due to her forgetfulness.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/characters/poor_turkey_girl
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/characters