Today we bring to the FloraQueen blog a very special post with three romantic tales that are perfect now that Valentine’s Day is coming. These are three short stories, some with mythological qualities, others that are totally true, that will touch your heart. So, get comfortable on your couch because we are almost sure that you have never heard about these love stories. Discover them!
3 love stories
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KUPE AND KURA-MARO-TINI – MAORI LEGEND
The first of the love stories is about the legend of the Maori people, the first settlers of New Zealand, and the story of Kupe, a great warrior from Hawaiki. This was the ancient motherland where all Maori people came from, a group of small islands in Polynesia. And this great tribal chief, Kupe, had a lot do with the discovering of New Zealand.
But let’s get to the point; besides being a great warrior and fisherman, Kupe was terribly jealous of his cousin, Hoturapa, for being married to the most beautiful Maori woman of the tribe, Kura-maro-tini. He was so jealous that, during a fishing trip, Kupe let his cousin drown in the sea so he could kidnap his wife Kura.
Since he knew that the tribe would not accept what he had done, Kupe embarked with Kura on an enormous canoe in search of a new home for the both of them. In the middle of the ocean they battled demons and sea monsters, like the well-known Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, a gigantic octopus monster that shook the canoe with his huge tentacles.
Until one day, Kura-maro-tini spotted a big white cloud from afar and, when they came close to it, they realized it was actually solid ground. Indeed, they both discovered New Zealand together and Kura named it Aotearoa, which in Maori means “white cloud”, in honor to the first sight of their new home.
Years later, the couple of pioneers returned to their native Hawaiki to convince their old tribe to migrate to Aotearoa. And this is how the Maori people populated New Zealand around the year 900 A.C., long before thousands of Europeans came to take over the country.
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OSIRIS AND ISIS – EGYPTIAN MYTH
Do you like mythology and Egyptian gods? Well, one of the most popular of the love stories in ancient Egypt is the myth of Osiris and Isis. It all started with the sky goddess, Nut, and the earth god, Geb, who had two sets of twins, on one side Osiris and Isis and, on the other side Set and Neftis, who married each other respectively. Isis and Osiris were one of the first kings and queens of Egypt and they ruled the country with great prosperity and admiration from their subjects.
Jealous due to his brother Osiris’ reign, Set planned to finish him off and he ordered to build a luxurious sarcophagus where he locked his brother up and threw it to the Nile. In despair for having lost her husband and love of her life, Isis went across the whole river until she arrived to the city of Busto, where there was a cedar which had surrounded the coffin where Osiris lied lifeless. The queen, happy to have met her love again, conceived the child of the both of them, Horus, and decided to come back home and give her husband a proper burial. However, Set found it out and he cut Osiris’ body into fourteen pieces that he scattered across Egypt.
Isis, tireless to retrieve her loved one again, went across the country and was able to restore his body. By then, young Horus decided to face his evil uncle Set to avenge his father’s death. He lost his left eye in the battle, which he puts as an offering before the mummy of Osiris who, thanks to this gesture, resurrected unto eternal life, thus becoming god of the underworld and king of the reborn dead. There he could finally get together with his beloved Isis again.
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SHAH JAHAN AND MUMTAZ MAHAL – INDIA
This beautiful love story takes us all the way to India, around 1607, when the Prince Emperor Khurran was strolling around the Agra bazaar, former capital of the country. Amidst all the hustle and bustle of the market he run into the daughter of the prime minister of the court, Princess Arjumand Banu Begum. She captivated his heart at first sight and the prince offered her the diamond necklace that she was trying on in one of the bazaar stands.
Although if it had been up to the prince, he would have married her instantly, his obligations as the future ruler of the country didn’t allow him to get married to someone of an inferior status and he had to marry the princess of Persia. However, he never forgot that young woman in the bazaar and, since the prevailing Muslim law allowed polygamy, five years later she became his fourth wife. When they got married, the princess was renamed Mumtaz Mahal, which means “Chosen One of the Palace”. Shortly after, the prince was crowned as king of the world and renamed Shah Jahan.
Their marriage was full of happiness for nineteen years, but in 1631 Mumtaz died suddenly when giving birth to their fourteenth child. Before dying, she made four requests to her loved one: to build a tomb for her, to remarry, to look after their children and to visit her every year on the anniversary of her death.
Devastated by the pain, the King only focused on one thing: building the most beautiful tomb in the world that would symbolize his love for Mumtaz Mahal for centuries to come. During twenty-two years, over twenty thousand workers worked in the construction and precious materials from all over the world were brought to pay homage to his loved one. Finally, when it was completed, he called it Taj Mahal, which many translate as “Palace of the Crown” but others attribute it to an abbreviation of the name Mumtaz Mahal. Be it as it may, the king Shah Jahan died at 74 having kept his first promise, the building of this architectural gem that has reached our days as one of the seven wonders of the world and a symbol of a true love that will stay forever.
What do you think about our three love stories? Did you know them already? Which one is your favorite? If these tales have touched you and you don’t have the perfect Valentine’s Day gift yet, we’ll give you an idea: write your love story in a short format with your personal style, the most romantic surprise! Are you up for it?
