106 RUINED CASTLES IN ASIA MINOR. 
bring a fine supply of water into the city, though noth- 
ing indicates whence the supply was to come. The 
labor involved in this undertaking proves a populous 
city, a powerful government, and considerable skill in 
mechanical arts, but the questions who? when? and 
how? remain unanswered. Local tradition will never 
leave such a thing without an explanation and here the 
people tella pathetic story of Ferhad, a young neighbor- 
ing chieftain, noble, wealthy, brave and handsome, who 
fell in love with the belle of the city, daughter of the 
feudal lord. She agrees to accept him, but asks as her 
bridal gift that he conduct the water of his native village 
into the city. Nothing daunted, he heroically under- 
takes the work, and toils on forgetful of the passage 
of time in the constancy of his affection. At length his 
task approaches completion. He meets at the outskirts 
of the city an old woman who asks the object of his toil. 
He tells his simple tale, and shows a heart as young as 
ever. But she sadly informs him that his maiden true, 
past seventy years of age, had sunk into a hopeless tomb. 
He quits his undertaking, yet incomplete, dies of a 
broken heart, and is buried beside his love on the top of 
the mountain. This kind of folk-lore is very common 
among the natives of the country and helps to while 
away the long winter evenings; not always as chaste 
and simple as this specimen, and often excessively 
tedious and pointless, but sometimes spirited and witty 
and in rare instances embodying a truly valuable tradi- 
tion. 
If you will follow this same road for a day’s journey, 
—asit winds through the valleys in a southeastly direc- 
tion, towards night as your intelligent steed begins to 
quicken his pace in anticipation of his evening meal, a 
sudden turn in the road spreads out before you a wide 
plain covered with rich vegetation. Right in the midst 
of it rises a high, abrupt and very picturesque rock, 
