12. Madách International Theatre Meeting

The shepherds gather around Lake Küp, near Mount Ararat and play the “Anger of Mount Ararat” with their flutes, every year. The old Sufi who sees a gray horse at the door of Ahmet, says that a horse which doesn't leave when sent away, should be kept as a gift from God. Ignoring this tradition, the leader Mahmut Han, asks his horse to be returned to him, imprisons Sufi and burns down the village of the people who oppose his orders. He sends Musa Bey as a mediator to the villagers who flee his rage. Later on, he imprisons Ahmet and Musa Bey as well, without knowing that, his daughter Gülbahar and Ahmet were to fall in love with each other. To save Ahmet, Gülbahar asks for help from the blacksmith Hüso and the sheikh, the spiritual leader. The horse is returned to Mahmut Han, who claims that, the horse which is returned to him is not his own horse. Gülbahar pleads with the prison guard Memo, to see and help Ahmet , who is to be executed, and to help him escape from the prison. She promises to give him whatever he wants in return. Memo only wants a lock of her hair and wants her to remember this night and him. Mahmut Khan learns everything, and throws his own daughter into prison as well. Ahmet, with the support of the mountain people goes to free Gulbahar from the dungeon. The folkpoets, the most important figures of the region's oral tradition go to Mahmut Khan to plea for mercy, but he does not back down. Gülbahar and Ahmet had made love while they were in prison. However, after Ahmet rescues her from the prison, he places a sword between them which shows that a woman and a man cannot touch each other, even if they are side by side. Gülbahar would understand the true reason behind Ahmet's gesture much later.Mahmut Han states that Ahmet should light a fire on top of Mount Ararat, to be allowed to marry his daughter. Ahmet accepts this seemingly impossible mission. This leads the public to start a silent resistance against Mahmut Han, frightening him. When Ahmet reunites with Gülbahar after their wedding, he asks her the question he has been keeping in his mind; What did Memo, want from Gülbahar to help Ahmet escape from the dungeon, at the risk of dying?