The children of the school principal, Teacher Süleyman—Alper and Buket—were enjoying their holiday.
As darkness fell, Alper, Buket, Mehmet, Ayşe, İsmail, Fatma, and İmdat sat together in a far corner of the schoolyard, chatting and gazing up at the stars in the sky.
While the children were carrying on a pleasant conversation among themselves, sudden noises and shouts coming from the middle of the schoolyard woke them from their dream world. Circles of light, swaying and sweeping side to side, pierced the darkness in a strange display of dancing light. They all jumped up at once and tried to run, taking care not to bump into anything.
When they reached the center of the schoolyard, they saw two young men tied to one of the magnificent, ancient giant pine trees, surrounded by a crowd circling them like Native Americans. Many people were wildly waving burning pine torches in the air, drawing circles of light. Young and old voices from the crowd were shouting non-stop:
“You should be hanged! You deserve death! You call yourselves Muslims, yet you steal rugs from the mosque!”
“Nobody can take you from our hands!”
Meanwhile, looking utterly disheveled and bound to the tree with heavy ropes, the two young men were pleading continuously:
“For God’s sake, listen to us! Set us free!”
“We aren’t thieves!”
“If we don’t do something right now, they’re going to kill these men!” Alper said in excitement. “Let’s go inform my father and Mukhtar Uncle immediately.” The children nodded and, without losing a second, took off running like lightning.
Teacher Süleyman and the mukhtar had arrived in the schoolyard. First, the mukhtar shouted out to the crowd:
“Stop, what are you doing? What is these men’s crime? Even if they are guilty, is it up to you to punish them?” Teacher Süleyman walked into the middle of the angry crowd toward the men tied to the tree.
“The mukhtar is right. What do you think you’re doing? Is this humanity?”
A middle-aged man from the crowd spoke up:
“We caught these men red-handed. We were glad when we saw these two strangers coming to the mosque!”
Teacher Süleyman intervened:
“Alright, whatever happened happened. But there is the law, there are the gendarmes and the court. Are you going to punish these people by killing them with your own hands?”
The mukhtar’s daughter, Fatma, suddenly stepped out from among her friends, took her father’s hand, and brought him next to Teacher Süleyman. “My father is the village mukhtar. You will listen to both my father and Teacher Süleyman. First, you’ll have to throw stones at my father, Teacher Süleyman, and me.”
Fatma’s courageous move made everyone pause. Alper, Buket, Mehmet, Ayşe, İsmail, and İmdat joined Fatma as if drawn by a magnet, holding hands to form a semicircle around the pine tree. At that moment, another extraordinary and unexpected thing happened: the other children within the crowd also ran over, joining the ring to complete the half-finished circle. That wild, frantic mob suddenly froze. No one moved an inch.
NCO Behzat, the Gendarmerie Station Commander, arrived about an hour later with two gendarmerie privates. The young men were untied, and Village Guard Mehmet brought them before the gendarmerie commander, the mukhtar, Teacher Süleyman, and the village imam, Hodja Fatih, who were waiting in the village hall to learn the truth. Village Guard Mehmet, the gendarmerie soldiers, and the children waited outside.
It turned out that the young men were 30-year-old Ahmet and his cousin Murat, who had just returned from military service, both from the neighboring village of Gençali. Ahmet tried to explain what had happened:
“My cousin Murat knows a girl from your village whom he wants to marry—Gülşen, the daughter of the Horozoğlu family. The young folks saw each other at the town market. Gülşen told Murat, ‘If you really love me, you must prove it. If you come to our village, take a rug from our mosque, and bring it to me, I will know you are brave. After explaining the situation to the family elders, you can take the rug back to the mosque.’ Murat asked me to help him. What could I do? He’s my cousin.”
“The easiest way to see if what you’re saying is true is to call Gülşen and her father Halil here,” the mukhtar said, then called out: “Mehmet, run quickly and bring Horozoğlu Halil and his daughter Gülşen here right away! Tell them, ‘The commander is here too, it’s very important, they’re waiting!'”
“Yes sir, Mukhtar!” shouted Guard Mehmet, clicking his heels, and vanished immediately.
Horozoğlu Halil and his daughter Gülşen knocked on the door of the village hall, out of breath. The bewilderment on Gülşen’s face was unmistakable.
NCO Behzat cleared his throat and began to speak:
“Look here, Horozoğlu Halil. These two young men are from the neighboring village of Gençali.” Pointing to Murat, he continued, “Murat met your daughter Gülşen at the town market. Gülşen told Murat, ‘Prove your courage to me, come to our village, take a rug from the mosque, and bring it to me. Then ask for my hand in marriage.’ If the situation isn’t as described, I will initiate legal proceedings against him accordingly.”
Horozoğlu Halil turned to his only daughter, Gülşen. Gülşen’s face had flushed deep red while listening to all this.
“Father, it’s true. I wanted to test Murat’s intentions and love for me. I couldn’t have known it would turn out like this.”
Ahmet chimed in:
“Uncle Halil, we didn’t want it to end up like this. If you see fit, let’s marry Gülşen and Murat. If you say yes, our family elders will knock on your door to ask for her hand!”
Horozoğlu Halil looked at everyone in the room first, and finally at his daughter. Seeing approving expressions on all their faces and in their eyes, he said, “May whatever is best happen!”
Upon these words, the village hall turned into a place of celebration. When the door opened and the full story became clear, the children formed a ring and started singing songs.
Murat and Gülşen’s wedding was held in the schoolyards of both villages simultaneously…