The Tale of Hobe Hanar: A Kurdish Folktale

Hobe Hanar, or the Pomegranate Seed, is a popular story from Kurdish folklore, recounted to us many times by my mother during the rainy winter nights. I would like to share it with you, dear readers, so we can enjoy its events and learn from its lessons.

Let's begin in the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

It is said that in one of the villages of Kurdistan, there was a landowner named Agha Serbest. He was a kind and generous man who had been blessed with wealth, land, properties, a good wife, and eight sons. However, Agha Serbest secretly wished for a daughter who would care for him and his wife in their old age. By God's will, his dream came true when his wife became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, whom he named "Hobe Hanar" (Pomegranate Seed) out of immense joy.

However, fate had it that his wife died during childbirth. The Agha, his household, and the villagers were deeply saddened, but the beautiful little girl somewhat eased their grief. Agha Serbest loved her dearly, and she became the apple of his eye and the cherished sister of her eight brothers. She was spoiled by them and rarely had to ask for anything twice because of their great affection for her.

As time passed, the Pomegranate Seed grew up to become the most beautiful girl in the village, with outstanding manners, education, and religiousness. Whenever she walked through the market, her eight brothers surrounded her from all sides to protect her from even the slightest breeze.

Her beauty, affection, and treatment were enough to make every girl envious and every young man fall in love with her.

The brothers grew up to be strong and robust men, and it was time for them to have wives and families. However, they were too shy to ask their father directly, so they asked their sister to tell their father of their wish, knowing that Agha Serbest would never refuse any request from his beloved daughter.

Their father was overjoyed and began seeking suitable brides from the families of prominent figures, scholars, and elders. His main condition was that Hobe Hanar must approve of the brides. The father and daughter selected eight brides, and the sons were married off all on the same day. The weddings and feasts lasted for seven days and nights. Agha Serbest loved his sons' wives and treated them exceptionally well, but the queen of everyone’s hearts was Hobe Hanar. This was enough to ignite the jealousy of the brothers' wives, who wished for her downfall and death due to the love their husbands and uncle had for her, despite her kindness and lack of malice toward them. They began to plot against her, and although Agha Serbest sensed their ill intentions, he did not act upon his suspicions. Anyone who dared to harm her, even with a single flower, would find that day to be their last in the village or perhaps in life itself, for Agha Serbest would not tolerate any injustice against his daughter or any harm plotted against her.

Days and months passed, and Agha Serbest eagerly awaited the day when he would be able to marry his young princess to a worthy suitor—a son of a prominent family, a brave knight, or a great merchant deserving of his daughter's beauty and virtues. Yet, nothing in life is perfect, and death approached him.

Agha Serbest fell seriously ill and felt his end was near. He called his eight sons to give them his final advice, with his head resting on Hobe Hanar's lap. The eight men gathered around their father's bed as he spoke to them with sadness: "My sons, you have been my joy and the best children. You work in your fields and care for your sustenance. My heart is content with you, and I advise you to bring me joy in my grave as you have in my house. Be kind to the farmers, do not forget the poor and the needy, and be united, for God's hand is with the community. Take good care of your sister and do not be led astray by the deceit of women.

 Your sister, your sister, your sister is the key to my satisfaction with you. If you wrong her, may God be angry with you." These were his last words. Agha Serbest died while advising his sons about their sister, as if he felt what would befall her after him. The village mourned deeply, and both men and women wore black, while the young and old wept for their benefactor after God.

As for Hobe Hanar, her grief was the deepest. She cried for days, and her laughter no longer graced her lips. Her brothers did not leave her in this state; they showered her with gifts and took her on trips, doing everything possible to make her happy and restore her light to their home. The days passed, and happiness briefly returned to the village, but the worst was yet to come. The jealousy of the brothers' wives reached its peak. Their hearts were filled with malice toward this delicate young woman, whose only fault was the love of her brothers for her and their adherence to their father's will. One of them said to her husband, 

"Your sister spends all day beautifying herself for whom, I wonder?" He silenced her. Another said, "My back is breaking from housework while your sister does little." He silenced her. They began to target the girl with their jealousy, even though she was innocent of their accusations. The eldest wife devised a diabolical plan to turn the household upside down. She would strike at the girl's most prized possession—her honor. The women began to weave the threads of their conspiracy.

The fateful day came. The eldest wife asked her husband to take Hobe Hanar on an outing to a nearby river under the pretense of making her happy and relaxing her. The brother was delighted and asked her what they needed. She replied, "We only want some salted chickpeas (a special type of roasted chickpeas) to enjoy on the way." The eight women, along with Hobe Hanar, set out, and the women kept feeding her the salted chickpeas until her throat became dry from thirst. She asked them for water, and this was when the plan to dispose of her was set in motion. The eldest wife placed a baby snake in the water bottle, and due to Hobe Hanar's intense thirst, she did not notice or feel the snake. She drank the entire bottle of water, and the little snake entered her stomach. Days passed, and the snake grew in the young woman's belly while the household women whispered among themselves about her growing belly, hinting that she had conceived out of wedlock.

Hobe Hanar’s brothers, who were deeply afraid of the scandal, decided to kill her. Their wives agreed to this decision under the pretext of washing away the shame. They assigned the task to their youngest brother, who loved Hobe Hanar the most. He decided to take her to the forest and kill her. The next day, the brother told his sister that he wanted to visit their aunt in a distant village and invited her to go with him. Hobe Hanar was overjoyed and packed her things. They traveled through the forests and mountains for hours as he prepared to kill her, but each time he remembered their father’s will and his love for his sister, he would tell himself to wait a little longer.

Night fell, and the brother had not yet carried out his duty. He then came up with the idea of leaving his sister in the wilderness to be eaten by wild animals, thus fulfilling his task without getting his hands dirty with his beloved's blood, and adhering to his father’s will. He told her, "Sister, I am tired and exhausted from traveling. How about we spend the night here and continue tomorrow?" Hobe Hanar agreed and said, "On the condition that I sleep on your cloak." The brother spread his cloak under her head and waited for her to fall asleep. As soon as he felt she was dozing off, he took a knife and cut a piece of the cloak that was under her head, then left her in the dark forest, where only the moonlight illuminated the sky and the only sounds were the howling of wolves and the wailing of a hungry owl.

She found herself alone and began to cry until morning. When Hobe Hanar woke up, she was horrified to find her brother gone! Overcome with grief and pain, she cried and moaned, and her suffering was compounded by the severe pain in her belly, which felt like knives cutting through her insides. In her deep sorrow, she raised her hands to the sky and prayed: "O Lord, if my brothers have done this to me intentionally, then dry up their crops, deplete their water, and afflict their animals and women. And may You, my little brother, be struck with a disease that only I can cure." She took the piece of cloak and placed it in a fabric sack where she kept her jewelry. Suddenly, she heard the sound of horses' hooves approaching and men's shouting,

 as if they were hunters or bandits. She had no choice but to climb the tree where she had slept with her brother. She climbed the tree and settled on it, trembling with fear. Two men arrived, one of whom was a handsome young man dressed in fine attire, suggesting he was of high status, while the other seemed like his servant. The two men rested under the tree, and Hobe Hanar, feeling nervous and afraid, accidentally dropped some of her belongings. The young man looked up and noticed her presence. He called out, "Is it a human or a jinn?"

The young man ordered his servant to investigate, saying, "If it is a human, it is mine; if it is

a jinn, leave it." The servant climbed the tree and found Hobe Hanar. She revealed her identity, and the young man was deeply moved by her story. He offered to help her and took her to his family, who were kind and noble. They treated her with great respect and hospitality.

In the meantime, the brother returned home and found that everything had gone wrong. His wife was ill, his crops had failed, and his animals were suffering. He sought Hobe Hanar’s help but was unable to find her. As time passed, the young man and Hobe Hanar fell in love and got married. The young man’s family accepted Hobe Hanar wholeheartedly and cared for her as if she were their own daughter.

Eventually, Hobe Hanar's brothers came to realize the gravity of their actions and their wives' deceit. They sought forgiveness from their sister and made amends. Hobe Hanar forgave them, but she remained with her new family, living a life of happiness and contentment.

And so ends the tale of Hobe Hanar, the Pomegranate Seed, a story of betrayal, forgiveness, and new beginnings. This story, shared with you by Novpad: The Global Stories Library, reminds us of the importance of loyalty, honesty, and the strength of family bonds.