The Tale of Fairies from the Land of Beautiful Horses - Cappadocia

Simin Uysal

A few months ago, I had a dream where a white dove appeared and said "Follow me". I  naturally started looking for stories and the search led me to the fairies of Cappadocia. 

Cappadocia (meaning the Land of Beautiful Horses), in Central Anatolia, is a popular touristic place with its importance in early Christianity, rock houses, wine, underground cities and also for its dreamy volcanic rock formations which are  sculpted by wind and water, called the Fairy Chimneys.  
Here is the tale of fairies from this dreamscape:

"Once upon a time, scary giants used to live on our Great Earth. Humans were always scared from them and they were careful not to enrage them. To keep the giants pleased, they used to leave offerings for them on the altars on high mountains. But the giants would get angry from time to time despite the offerngs and send great waves of fire and thunders. These waves of fire would burn down everything the humans had. 

Humans, who do not understand the reason behind the rage of the giants, started leaving more offerings and praying more. Nothing they did seemed to calm the giants down. 

One day, the Sultan of Fairies comes to visit this land. The suffering of humans gives him great sadness and he decides to help. He gathers all the fairies to tell them about his plans. "Our human brothers and sisters are in a difficult situation and we need to help them. If we can put out the fire of the giants, they will be scared and will go to hide underground so will never bother the humans again" he announces. Upon hearing this, all the fairies started carrying snow and pieces of ice to the boiling fires on the mountain. After days of hard work, finally they succeeded to put out the fire. Finally, the giants were scared and fleed to hide underground. 

Humans and fairies celebrated the victory of the fairies together and started living peacefully together. Humans were living in houses carved in rocks while the fairies were living in the small chambers at the top of these caves."

The tale does not end here though. There is more and it continues with a love story:

"Humans and fairies living together peacefully, have their own separate sultans. The sultan of the humans has a handsome and brave son named Revan and the sultan of fairies have a beautiful daughter named Gülperi.

One day, Revan decides to travel to underground to take revenge from the giants who have caused much suffering to his ancestors.  He  easily passes through all the doors leading to the underworld with ease. But when he arrives at the final door which he opens with great anger, a giant rock rolls over leaving him trapped inside a room. He understands he is trapped by the giants but it is too late. Handsome Revan, unable to find a way out this trap starts waiting in despair. 

Meanwhile, the daughter of the fairy sultan is having the same dream night after night where a handsome young man is desperately asking her to save him. Intrigued by her recurring dreams, she tells them to her nanny who, after carefully listening says: "your dreams are true. There is indeed such a young man who is trapped in the underworld and you need to save him" Upon these words, Gülperi gathers her guardians and goes looking for the young man. They find him unconscious in the chamber he was trapped and carry him to the fairy sultan's palace where Gülperi helps him heal with medicine unknown to humans. 

When he finally opens his eyes, Revan sees the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. They fall in love. Gathering his strength, Revan returns to his palace and asks for his sultan father's permission to marry Gulperi. Sultan becomes thoughtful upon this since there has been no marriages between the fairies and humans until then and decides to consult the circle of elders.  

After heated discussions, the elders decide this marriage is impossible because the fairies live in the sky, the humans on earth and fairies are immortal whereas the humans are not. This would bring humans to an end, they conclude. This marriage is impossible and the young man must be under their spell.  
      
Upon this decision, the sultan decides to declare war on the fairies to protect the humans and to force them out the land. He jails his son so he can't run to warnl the fairies. 

The fairy sultan becomes very sad upon hearing the war plans of humans. He gathers his people and says "we saved humans from the cruel giants but humans are weak and forgetful and now they want to fight against us and they want us to leave. I know they will wake up to their fault someday. If we fight against them, they will suffer a lot and their losses will be great. However, if we leave now the cruel giants of the underworld may take advantage of this and return to attack them again. We need to continue protecting humans but they should never recognize us." And he asks all his people to shapeshift into doves. 

The fairies, now in shape of doves, continue living in the small chambers right above the rock carved houses of humans. Gülperi, in shape of a white dove, never leaves the sad prince alone and continues to fly and perch outside his window everyday."

You can see the fairies in their new shapes especially in the dovecotes carved in the soft rock in whatever space allowed. Their droppings fertilize the land, producing sweet fruits and tasty wine. If they believe you are peaceful and loving enough, you may even be able to see them in their original shapes while walking around the fairy chimneys at dusk or dawn. 

A Fairy Chimney in Cappadocia