A rich man once lived in the Jaff tribe. He owned a splendid house in the middle of the vast landscape. He had many daughters, but no son. So he was looking for a capable shepherd for his large herds. At last he found a young man and said to him: "Look, I have no son. If you want, you can stay with me and look after my animals. You'll get a good wage and when you're old enough, you can marry one of my daughters." The young man agreed and now brought the herds up the mountain to graze day in, day out. At the top, he took out his shepherd's flute and played until he brought the animals back in the evening.

Once he was leading the animals up the mountain far above the stream when robbers came, tied him up and tried to steal the animals.

"Please!" cried the shepherd, "Let my hands free so I can play the flute for you!"

"He's right," said one of the robbers, "he can't run away, let him play for us." They untied the shepherd's hands and he began to play his shepherd's flute. But he had seen from far above that one of his master's daughters had left the house with the sieve on her head. He knew her well and had loved her for a long time. He played a song on his shawm flute:

Hay tal wa sara hay bedschin wa sara

Taschaupauakay malle bawkit day la kali chayuara

Oh you beautiful one with the headband,

You bearer of the sieve

Your father's flock

Lies trapped by the river.

The girl heard the flute, recognized the sound of her beloved and immediately understood the secret words. She ran back to the house and called out: "Father, father! The herd is by the river, robbers have caught the shepherd!"

"How do you know that?" asked the father.

"I heard his flute!"

The father and her sisters laughed and said: "You're in love and you were dreaming! How do you know what the flute is saying? We couldn't hear anything."

"He called out with his flute. Please go and see if he needs help."

Then the father relented. He took a horse and rode near the river. There he saw how the robbers wanted to take the herd away and the shepherd had to go ahead tied up.

He returned and called out in despair: "You were right. There are many robbers and they are taking the herd and the shepherd away. It's too late to get help. I alone can't do anything against the robbers, what can we do?"

"I know what you can do," said the daughter. "Take the hor, the big sack of grain, fill it with ashes and make a hole in it. Then ride to the river, make a lot of noise and keep hitting the sack so that it looks like a big cloud of dust."

The father quickly took the large, full sack, tied it to the horse and galloped off. When he got close to the robbers, he shot into the air several times.  Then he hit the sack, causing a huge cloud of dust to rise into the air. The robbers heard the shots, saw the cloud of dust and shouted: "Flee, there are a thousand men chasing us!" They left the herd and the shepherd behind and rode off.

The father freed the shepherd and together they brought the flock safely back home. "You have saved our wealth and thus our family," he said to the young man. "And you, my daughter, have understood his song because you can read his heart. So let there be a wedding soon." The wedding was celebrated and the two lovers were given the herd and all their father's wealth as a gift.

Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: B. Bahrami, Kurdische Volksmärchen aus den mündlichen Erzählungen des Jaff -Stammes, 2016. Der Text des Liedes wurde frei übersetzt,englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike ©Mutabor Märchenstiftung