Hasan Boguldu

The Hasan Boğuldu (Hasan Drowned)

The story goes that Hasan, a handsome young man from the village of Zeytinli, falls in love with Emine, a young woman from one of the mountain villages. Emine's family is not thrilled that she wants to marry someone from the valley; they do not think he is strong enough. To test him, they tell Emine that Hasan will have to carry a 60-kilo (132-lb) sack of salt up the mountain to their village before they will give their blessing to the marriage. After all, Emine herself is easily able to handle such heavy loads. Hasan agrees and immediately sets off together with Emine, the heavy bag securely strapped to his back. At first, everything goes smoothly, but soon Hasan starts to tire and eventually he falls to the ground near a creek, unable to get up. He lies down near the a waterfall trying to regain his strength. Emine tries to encourage him, but her efforts are to no avail, Hasan has no strength left to carry on. Disappointed, Emine hefts the sack of salt onto her back and continues up the trail. Hasan, however, has no strength left to follow her, nor to return to his own village. He begs Emine not to leave him, but his words fall on deaf ears. When she reaches her village, Emine feels bad about leaving Hasan behind and wants to go back to find him. However, by this time, it is pouring rain and her family convince her to wait until the morning. The next morning, Emine rushes to Hasan's village, but no one has seen him. She searches for Hasan for days. Eventually, tracing their path up the mountain, she comes to the creekside where she last saw Hasan. The only sign of Hasan is his shirt and a scarf she had given him as a gift floating in the creek water. Whispering the words, "I am coming to meet you, Hasan," she hangs herself from the branch of a sycamore tree near the waterfall.