Once upon a time, there was a rich and famous sultan. He had wealth, properties, soldiers and so on, he had everything he needed. However, he had no child. He had gone to many doctors but couldn't find any solution to his misery. 

While he was losing his hope day by day, he started shuttling in the yard he made his servants build in order to forget his grief. This yard was his only hobby to ride.

One day, he went to bazaar with his vizier. He gave some money to a beggar who said:

“Who gives a gold coin to me, God makes his wish come true“. 

They left the bazaar, went to the yard and sat under a tree. They saw an old dervish there and went near to him.

While they were talking, the Dervish said 

"I have special abilities." 

The Sultan put into words his desire

“Then, Guess the wish in my heart and make it come true” 

The Dervish knew that the Sultan and the Vizier couldn’t have children despite they wanted to have one so much. And they demanded the help of the Dervish. The Dervish pulled a magical apple from his pocket and cut it into two pieces.

 He said:

“If you eat the half apples, you will both have children born on the same day. The Sultan, you will have a daughter. The Vizier, you will have a son.”

The Dervish also warned them strictly.

“Don’t forget, the babies shouldn't be separated from each other. When they are old enough, you should get them married.” 

 The Sultan and the Vizier got very happy. In the evening, they ate half of the apple. The magic apple that they shared ended up having children born the same day. 

After nine months and 

ten days, the Sultan had 

a daughter, the Vizier had 

a son. 

They named the girl 

as Zühre, the boy as Tahir. 

 Tahir and Zühre grew together. They took lessons from the best known scholars and they learnt everything because they were very smart. However, at the age of ten Zühre felt in love with Tahir. 

One day, while he was sleeping she kissed him. Tahir got mad because he thought they were siblings. After a while, Zühre kissed Tahir again and Tahir beat her to a pulp. Zühre got so sad that she prayed to God saying 

‘’My dear God, give half of my love to Tahir’’.

Then Tahir felt in love with her, too. This time, Zühre played hard to get. However, Tahir and Zühre, who learned that they were not siblings, had an intimate relationship day by day. They took their sazes and sang songs to each other. 

Blacky servant of 

Sultan’s wife saw 

Tahir and Zühre’s 

love affair, and told 

it to his master. 

The Sultan said that It was time to marry his daughter to Tahir. But his wife wanted her daughter to get married with a Sultan’s son. 

Sultan wanted to see the lovers and when he saw them, he decided to make them marry. 

One day, in his dream, Tahir saw there were two dogs attacking to him. His dream became true. the Sultan’s wife made her husband to drink syrup that a witch had prepared. Sultan didn't like Tahir anymore and he fired him from his palace. Tahir, burned with her love, came in front of Zühre’s mansion and sang reproachful songs. Then Zühre learnt what had happened from her nanny and explained them to Tahir.     

When the Blacky servant saw Tahir and Zühre, he told on them to Sultan again. This time Sultan sent Tahir to exile to Mardin. Tahir lived for seven years there. 

One day, he prayed to God 

to save him from the 

dungeon he was in. God 

accepted Tahir’s prayer 

and sent Hızır, righteous 

servant of God possessing 

great wisdom or mystic 

knowledge, to help Tahir. 

 Hızır came into the dungeon with his horse. He took him on his horse and left him to Zühre’s manor house while Tahir was sleeping. Zühre sent Tahir to her nanny’s house in order not to be recognized by anyone. From that day, Zühre and Tahir met there secretly every night. 

One night, in his dream 

Tahir saw himself surrounded 

by black dogs again. His dream 

came true because the Blacky 

servant saw them again and 

told on this to Sultan. Tahir was 

left to the Şat River in an 

open-up chest by the soldiers

of Sultan.

On Şat River’s edge, there was the palace of the King of the Lake. As she knew this, Zühre wrote a letter to the three daughters of the King of the Lake. Then the sisters found Tahir. When they saw him, the three sisters fell in love with Tahir. 

One day, they couldn’t share Tahir and started quarreling. Tahir heard this noise and ran away. He prayed near a fountain and fell asleep. He saw a dervish when he got woken up by the noise of a horse. The dervish took Tahir to his horse and wanted him to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes, Tahir saw himself standing in front of Zühre’s mansion.

He went to the nanny. They had a heart-to-heart talk. One day, Tahir heard noises of a wedding entertainment. His nanny told him that Zühre was about to get married. Tahir went to the wedding in a woman’s dress. He introduced himself to Zühre. And they agreed to get out together and to go to the Turkish bath.

However, the blacky servant was also in disguise as a lady, and he wanted to meddle with the situation, after seeing our couple like that. The servant rushed to the Sultan to tell him what he had just seen. The Sultan apprehended Tahir after the incident. He declared that if he tells them a ballad, without mentioning not a single word regarding himself or his daughter, he would forgive what Tahir did. Tahir told the first two verses but when he was just about to start the third one, someone entered the room. It was Zühre, his dear lady. He couldn’t resist using her name in his ballad, then miserably, he mentioned her in his third ballad, and the Sultan decided to behead Tahir.