Love Tale
Author: Samed Behrengi
Translation: Poe-Artificial Intelligence
Editing: Yahya Türkeli
Cover Illustration: Damla Tort
E-ISBN: 978-625-6020-40-5
Prepared for Publication: Yahya Türkeli

No part of this work may be used in its entirety or in summary without written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

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Love Tale

Once upon a time, in a certain country, there was a king who had a daughter around six or seven years old. The girl had many servants, and a special servant was always at her service. They called this servant Koç Ali. He was slightly older than the king's daughter.

If the girl dropped her napkin while eating, he would be the one to pick it up for her. If she kicked the ball too far away while playing, he would find it and bring it back.

Among the millions of toys the king’s daughter had, there was also a steel stick. The steel stick was made of gold and silver. It had cost a hundred thousand tumens. Additionally, a jeweler had lost his head because of it.

All the jewelers had been summoned to the palace for the making of the steel stick, but that jeweler had not obeyed the order. At that time, he was making earrings for his newborn daughter, the poor jeweler.

While the girl played with the steel stick, Koç Ali would stand far away and wait. His duty was to hand the stick back to the girl whenever it fell.

Each time, the girl would hit the stick harder to make it go farther away. No matter how far it went, Koç Ali would run, find it, and bring it back. Eventually, when the king’s daughter got tired, Koç Ali would call the servants and attendants, who would carry the girl to the palace in a palanquin.

Koç Ali would hand the steel stick to the person responsible for placing it in the special section of the treasure that housed millions of toys. Then, he would tell the clothing officer to prepare one of the outfits she would wear at dinner and put away the one she had worn while playing.

Later, he would go to the kitchen and inform the king’s special chef to prepare the meal to be eaten after playing with the steel stick. Because after every game, another dish would be prepared as determined by the doctors.

These were Koç Ali’s daily duties. When the girl fell asleep at night, he would take a nap at the door threshold. The servants and attendants, seeing that he was asleep, would realize that the girl was also asleep and would quiet down.

Koç Ali would rush to fulfill the king’s daughter’s every task so quickly and perfectly that the girl had never once scolded him or raised her hand to him.

Koç Ali had also given his heart to the king’s daughter. He loved her. Therefore, he felt there was no harm in opening his heart to her.

One day, the king’s daughter went out butterfly hunting. Koç Ali was waiting to scare the butterflies hiding in the branches, but actually, he was waiting for the one with a beautiful heart. At one point, the king’s daughter spotted a large butterfly. She called out to Koç Ali:

“Come, Koç Ali! You catch this one. I’m scared.”

Koç Ali immediately ran and caught the butterfly, tossing it into a basket. Suddenly, he looked up and saw the girl in front of him, and with his pure heart and simple tongue, he murmured:

“O daughter of the king, I have fallen in love with you! When we grow up, I wish for you to marry me.”

The king’s daughter became furious. She didn’t even let Koç Ali finish his sentence. Not content with just slapping him, she yelled and cursed:

“You lowly servant! How dare you show such impudence to fall in love with me? If you’ve forgotten, let me remind you. I am the king’s daughter, and you are my servant! If anything, you would be my dog! Get out of my sight! Quickly, go call the attendants! Let them take me away and ensure that you are expelled from the palace so that your evil eye is not upon me!”

Koç Ali conveyed this order with tears in his eyes. The servants who rushed in with the palanquin found the princess unconscious. They immediately captured Koç Ali and interrogated him.

“What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything! When I told her I was in love with her, she got angry and hit me. Then she must have fainted out of frustration. I swear it’s true.”

No one believed him. They brought rose water and revived the princess. They carried her anxiously to the palace.

The princess still couldn’t overcome her anger:
“Tell my father the king to drag this insolent servant out like a dog and throw him out of the palace! I don’t want his evil eyes wandering over me!”

The king had Koç Ali dragged out of the palace in the manner the princess desired.

For some reason, after this incident, the princess fell ill. The country’s most famous doctors were summoned to heal her. They waited by her bedside, but none of them helped. Finally, the princess dismissed the doctors, saying, “I’m fine.”

Years passed. The princess grew increasingly self-admiring as the days and years went by. By the time she was seventeen or eighteen, she wouldn’t allow anyone to look at her. Those who encountered her would bow their heads and pass by. According to her, no one had the right to look at her and tarnish her beauty with their ugly gazes.

From that day on, anyone who happened to raise their head in surprise, whether servant or attendant, was whipped. Anyone who dared to protest would be thrown to the wolves. The princess had become so unapproachable that it was indescribable. She wandered alone in the garden, unable to speak to anyone.
“I have no equal to talk to,” she thought.

In the middle of the garden, there were two pools, one filled with milk and the other with rose water. Two young attendants would come during bath time, bowing their heads, and wait at the edge of the pools with silk towels in their hands.

When the princess emerged from the milk pool, she would wrap herself in a towel, dry off, and then enter the rose water pool. After coming out of the rose water, she would take the other towel and dry herself.

The attendants were not allowed to touch her. If anyone’s hand accidentally brushed against her skin or even a strand of her hair, they would immediately be thrown in front of the executioner. If their hand touched her, it would be cut off; if a finger grazed her, that finger would be severed on the spot.

The girl, who kept herself distant from everyone, wandered about, not knowing how to spend her time from morning till evening.

She was tired of catching butterflies, picking flowers, bathing in milk, and eating and drinking. She had grown weary of toys and the wolves she watched in their cages. Desperate, she spent most of her days in bed.

After some time, she began to see Koç Ali in her dreams. In her dreams:
Koç Ali would come and play with her. At first, she was joyful and amused. However, when she remembered that she was a princess, the obsession with her superiority would dampen her joy.

Then she would push Koç Ali away.
Koç Ali wanted to hold her hand. The princess would quickly snatch her hand away from his grasp. But in the face of this childish desire, she couldn’t keep her composure for long and would momentarily relax, letting her hand rest in Koç Ali’s palm.

Thus, they would run and play hand in hand, then go out to catch butterflies. Koç Ali would hum at that moment.
“Princess, I am in love with you! When you grow up, I wish for you to marry me.”

As he said this, she would remember that she was a princess, and suddenly change her demeanor, slapping Koç Ali and trying to make him regret his words with her insults.

To have his head cut off immediately, she would shout:
“Let the executioners come!”

The princess often startled awake from her sleep at her own voice. She always dreamed this dream.

In her dreams, she had no other playmates. It was always Koç Ali, in that old childhood form, who appeared before her.

As she matured, suitors began to come for the princess. But she didn’t even want to see the sultan's sons from other countries. Because she always said, "I can’t love anyone but myself."

One day, while bathing in the pool, a dove landed on the pomegranate tree by the pool. The dove said, "Beautiful girl! You have such a lovely body. I have fallen in love with you! Please, come out of the pool so I can see you properly."

The princess replied, "Get away from here, ugly bird! I command you! I am a princess. No one has the right to see me!"

The dove laughed, "Oh, beautiful girl! You say that, but unfortunately, you have not a single friend."

For a moment, the girl forgot she was a princess and softened. "Sweet-voiced dove, please don’t