Gelin Kayası

 

Gelin Kayası: A love that arrives late

Gelin Kayası? Because Gelin means bride and Kayası means rock in Turkish language; so, it is known as ‘Bride’s rock.’

It is said that in Ağva, Istanbul, there is a Black Sea region where you can find this beautiful rock called Gelin Kayası, which is white in color and resembles a bride with a veil.

There are a lot of legends in Turkey about the bride’s rock. However, my personal favourite at this time is only one. It revolves around a love story.

A very beautiful girl used to live in a village in Ağva and she never once went beyond the boundaries of Ağva and there, there, once a stranger arrived in Ağva. He was the captain of the sea, who sailed around the world on his Yacht.

The girl had never left the boundaries of where she lived, and the boy had never been used to staying in one place, he had never been attached to that one place in his entire life, but he had not found the love of his life until that moment. But as soon as he saw the girl, he fell in love with her. What about the girl? Yes, of course, she fell in love with him. They decided to marry and live together but fate has a way of working against them.

The girl’s father rejected the man saying that he would not give his daughter to some stranger but they were in love and then they decided to elope far away and marry.

They both agreed, and a young girl in her white wedding dress went to the shore to await the captain, the love of her life. She waited for him for hours and days, but the captain never arrived.

The girl was distraught and declared that if she could not meet her beloved, she would transform into a stone or a bird. She was praying from the bottom of her heart. And she became a stone.

What about the captain? He may have reached the love of his life, but he was late, exceedingly late. This is why the stone resembles a bride with a veil.

That girl could have returned to her village and married someone else, but she chose to be a stone for the rest of her life rather than be someone else's.

The captain lost her because he came late not by hours but by days and days of her waiting. Sometimes, people lost their beloved because they are late to tell them how they feel about them, they are late to make them feel loved.

People often ask, "What do we achieve in love if we only lose everything?"

I say we lose ourselves to achieve the love we think we deserve and that’s how we achieve everything.

A love that arrives late... Love will always be love, even if it arrives late, but it will not come alone; it will come with agonizing pain and possibly with a touch of misfortune.

- pooja singh