Original subtitles

-Peace be upon you. -And upon you, Yunus Aga.

What are you going to do with that?

Tinsmith’s son Ali caught a titmouse.

We're going to light a fire, put it on a stick and grill it.

If you hold too loosely...

it flies away.

If you hold too tightly...

it dies.

Oh, that's why they say, "as easy as to kill a bird".

It's the body that is big or small.

Life is life.

And it's one.

Your life, my life.

The life in this bird...

is the same life.

Life is one.

If life is one, why is it an animal and we're humans? Answer me that.

Each life is a guest in a body.

Ours is in a human body.

This one's in a bird body.

We also came like these birds...

and perched.

We will fly away from this branch, when the time comes.

JOURNEY OF LOVE

ONE YEAR LATER

Well, Yunus Effendi!

You returned to Nallihan one year later.

You used to walk proudly these streets...

now you hide your face so that nobody recognises you.

It's not their fault, it serves you right because you asked for it.

Who told you to resign as a qadi to become a disciple in a lodge...

and wear a dervish’s coat? What came of it in the end?

Did they appreciate you at all? They didn't even let you appreciate yourself!

I'm just a water bearer, the water isn't mine. I only give it out.

Peace be upon you, gentlemen.

-And upon you. -And upon you.

Do the ahis have any problems?

When you give a third of your income as tax, would you buy goods for the shop...

or bread to eat, Sari Aga? -Bayram Aga is right.

-That's right. Absolutely. -He is right.

This is not taxation, this is theft.

Hear yourself, Bayram Agha!

He's right, we're burdened with a new kind of tax every month!

Pity us, sir. It's killing us. Too heavy that we're crushed under it.

We pay our taxes but who receives them? The Seljuks...

or the Mongolians?

Gentlemen, if anyone has a complaint...

he should go to the mayor.

Order is order, and it's to be obeyed...

no matter what.

Sari Aga and his men visit every shop to announce the new taxes.

Never mind asking our opinion, they don't even inform us anymore.

This is no good, master. We have problems every day.

The ahis are furious.

They cannot act independently!

Without a consultation meeting...

no one shall act independently.

Welcome, sire.

What kind of disgrace is this?

Did you visit the ahis?

-One by one, sir. -Anyone complaining?

If they see a weakness, they would all bite, sir.

They accepted the situation now.

For they know that we would knock their teeth out.

-Peace be upon you, Sergeant Zeki. -And upon you.

-When will our wheat be ready? -You can take them at noon.

Good.

-What was the price again? -40 akces.

Here you are, Sergeant Zeki, exactly 40 akces.

-May it bring you prosperity. -You too, good luck.

Thank you.

-Peace be upon you. -And upon you.

I harvested wheat and I'd like to sell it.

Thank you, sir but our granary is full.

You may find another trader.

Thank you.

I bought the lodge's wheat, otherwise, I'd have got yours.

But Mullah Kasim and I bargained and agreed on a price.

What about four akces per sinik?

No.

That would be embarrassing. I cannot do that to Sheikh Effendi.

You have neither got it nor paid for it. No one will be a victim.

Buy it from me at four akces per sinik. This is called trade.

I cannot do that to Sheikh Effendi.

I would feel embarrassed.

Three akces.

Last price.

I'll fill your granary to the brim for three akces per sinik.

I cannot pay you until the last grain is stored inside.

Your game, your rule.

Well, thanks, but why did you lower the price?

No one in the Nallihan market has a problem...

with the sheikh or his lodge.

I am a poor farmer.

I do not know anything apart from farming.

What was your name, please?

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Kasim Efendi.

Have you had any peaceful sleep since last year, without stress?

God help me.

How many akces did our grain make, fellow?

After the last cart is emptied, it will be 175 akces.

And we have six half pouches.

What difference does half or full make, fellow?

Even if it's just a single grain, it belongs to the villagers.

Were they weighed at the harvest place, Ali Taygu Effendi?

About 2,000 batmans, Kasim Effendi.

Sergeant Zeki will surely weigh it with his own scale.

Well, he won't buy without weighing. So, may God make it easy for you.

If you have a question, Ali Taygu Effendi will help you.

-Peace be upon you, Sergeant Zeki. -And upon you, Kasim Effendi.

Welcome.

Thank you, Sergeant Zeki.

175 batmans.

-We agreed on five coins per sinik. -We did.

But...

would I want to wrong our sheikh?

Stop there, Sergeant Zeki. What are you talking about?

Take a breath, then speak clearly. What are you saying?

I am just asking if the sheikh could excuse me this year?

I'm in a bind, taxes are killing me.

When some villagers came and offered three akces per sinik...

Three akces?

Oh, why didn't they give it away, Sergeant Zeki?

How are we going to get bread for the villagers...

who broke their backs for this price?

I know, Kasim Effendi.

I know but...

How could you buy wheat at three akces, Sergeant Zeki?

A loaf of bread is one akce!

Who is this guy? What does he do?

A farmer from Sarikoy, near Sivrihisar.

Does this guy not have a name?

He does, Kasim Effendi.

I asked him....

Life is expensive.

Life is expensive.

Life is expensive.

Life is expensive.

Mother Sultan!

We have not seen you for a long time.

Well, she has forgotten about us. It's normal in those big mansions.

As if I'd been far away from you.

It's the same distance going there and coming here, Bacim Sultan.

Welcome, my beautiful girl.

Aygul is my helper, Mother Sultan.

May you be shown the same respect, dear, welcome.

Thank you, Mother Sultan.

Come on then, you didn't come all that way to chat here, eh?

Come on in. Come on now.

Let’s go over there.

Regards to God, sheikh.

Only God.

Come, Kasim.

Speak up.

Things on the tip of the tongue cannot be retrieved.

Grain Trader Zeki lowered the price too much, my sheikh.

Maybe wheat is abundant this year?

When the crop is abundant...

the price goes down.

It is not, my sheikh.

Then why would Sergeant Zeki ask for a lower price?

He says that a man named Mullah Konyali from Sivrihisar...

offered to fill up his granary at three akces per sinik.

What do you think we could do?

Not my place, sheikh.

If you order me...

I would like to go and find this Mullah Konyali.

As you are responsible for these kind of tasks...

you are responsible for accounting...

do as you will, Kasim Effendi.

One cannot let someone else have the drumstick while one carries the drum.

It's been a year, dear. Have you forgotten about us?

There's not one moment I'm not thinking about you, Mother Sultan.

Oh, how nice!

They say one nice word saves a person from a thousand troubles.

-Do you mean that I am lying? -Did I call you a liar?

Come on, you two can catch up, I'll prepare a table with what we have...

you have come a long way.

Do not bother, Mother Sultan. Aygul can set the table.

Out of the question, she may be your helper...

but she is our guest.

I have nothing to say to her.

Did she come to see us?

She came for her sister.

She came for you.

She is welcome back.

My mother made a plum compote.

It's cooled down and became sherbet. Let me get you some.

Don't bother, sister, Aygul can do it.

If you don't have anything to do, let’s go to the market together.

For shopping?

There's this famous soothsayer.

Meryem Hatun.

She sent word that she arrived in Nallihan.

Now I see why you came after so long.

Not because you missed us.

You're breaking my heart.

You'll have problems because of your interest in fortune-tellers.

Meryem Hatun is not like others.

Sultans host her in their palaces.

There is not one thing she has mispredicted.

Why are you making me talk? Let's go and see for yourself.

No, thanks.

-Are you going to send me alone? -Do not say that.

But I can't.

Isn't there anything you want to know?

"Except the sheep and lamb, half of the herd," said the pig called Sari.

"One of every two siniks of barley, will be taxed," he says.

Let him say so!

Sultan Alaaddin couldn't take his wealth to the grave, Candaroglu can?

Don't say that, Bekir Aga. Walls have ears.

Peace be upon you, gentlemen.

-And upon you. -And upon you.

-May you have a nice time. -May your destiny be nice.

We're looking for someone we think living hereabouts.

Get off your horses, have some cold ayran.

Your horses may rest in the meantime.

Thank you so very much, gentlemen. But we do not have much time.

Then say his name. Who are you looking for?

Someone called Mullah Konyali?

Is there anyone by that name in the village?

Yes, there is.

Peace be upon you, little man.

And upon you, big man.

What are you doing?

I'm setting a trap, don't you see?

Put more worms in, they don't cost anything.

You might get a big bird.

Hunchback's son Osman and I got a blackbird with a single worm!

They say there's a guy called Mullah Konyali around, is he here?

First, say who is asking, then maybe I will answer.

We know him, we're his acquaintances.

Wait.

What if someone sees or hears?

Thank you.

So what if they hear?

If it were a sin or immoral, would sultans invite them?

Don't turn me down. Come on, let’s go together.

No, I will not.

Do you not want to satisfy your curiosity?

What will we tell our father to get his permission?

If you say yes, I'll get permission from Mother Sultan.

What's taking him so long?

Where have you been?

You kept us waiting here!

I also waited for someone to come and give me some money.

But no one does.

Does he always follow you?

-Hasan Aga! -Yes, ma'am?

We have things to do.

Go to Draper Nizam Aga, tell him to prepare our order.

Wait there, we will come when we finish our job.

As you wish, ma'am.

Sister!

Sister!

Zahide.

Mother Meryem.

It's been a long time, I missed you.

You will meet someone.

And you have a guest with you.

She is my sister, Mother Meryem.

Come now, come. Do not stay away.

Why would anyone be so scared of their fate, my dear?

Zahide came for you. Im just accompanying her.

I see her all the time. First, tell her what you want.

I don't want to know anything.

Don't you ever wonder where the one you wait for is?

Whether he is dead or alive?

There he is, that's Mullah Konyali!

You've both kept a secret and waited for a long time.

Tell your secret.

Say it to the water.

Come on, say it, my dear.

It's not unknown to me.

The one you wait for will come.

Tell me!

Tell me what you saw, Meryem Hatun, tell me!

When Grain Trader Sergeant Zeki mentioned...

a Mullah Konyali...

who would have known, how could I know...

That it was our old fellow...

Yunus.

I'm not a soothsayer.

I wanted to go and find this man...

and warn him.

By lowering the prices...

he was unknowingly damaging our lodge.

How can you damage someone unknowingly?

How can someone who does not know me damage me?

That is called a mishap...

and profit and loss is out of the picture.

-I don't know why you're acting like this. -Why did you act like that then?

When did we treat you badly, Yunus Effendi?

Who harmed you in the lodge?

Is causing no harm...

considered a good deed?

Once I was a qadi in the town.

Did I complain now that I have to pray with commoners?

Yunus Effendi, neither I nor the fellows complained about you.

Everyone likes you there. Believe me.

But it's not my place to discuss...

how our sheikh treated you.

since the duty I gave you makes you so tired and wears you out...

then...

you may leave our humble abode.

I want neither to see your face nor to hear your voice.

Obviously, you...

value not those who value you but those who are treacherous.

Maybe I will be appreciated after doing this.

Oh, you feigned reluctance! Who are you waiting for?

Does it...

have to be a man that I'm waiting for?

Oh, no! I forgot.

I was going to say something to Mother Meryem.

You rest here a bit, I'll be right back.

I heard everything. I know who you are now.

So you know who I am.

I don't even know who I am.

Please, tell me. Who am I?

You said it with your own mouth.

And I heard it with my own ears. You said that you were a qadi.

I was once.

You mentioned it a couple of times.

But you never said what they did to you in the lodge.

What can a person do to someone other than himself?

Whatever one does, one only does it to oneself.

But you're obviously angry.

Right.

I am angry.

But at whom?

I am angry at you, at you! I am angry at you.

You seem so happy. What is the reason?

I couldn't talk because of my sister.

I don't want them to know.

You said that I'd meet someone.

A baby?

Say that I will meet a baby. A son, please.

You won't have a baby.

Then who will I meet? Don't you know I am married?

And beside my sister!

I talked to Eyup.

They've all gone cocky for his master scolded Sari.

I went to Kececi Azmi today. He is furious as well.

If the ahis unite, neither Candaroglu nor his dogs could...

Why would they unite? Are they going to revolt?

If needs be, yes. But first, we have to unite and say...

we don't accept this tax and... -Anyway, fellows.

Empty words mean nothing. Let’s do our job.

Well, then. Will you find a solution for the ahis, sir?

Since I'm just boshing.

With your permission, my sheikh.

The fellows want to know when you will be ready for a sermon, sheikh.

Get up! How dare you sit there! You cheeky man!

Get up.

If you're mad, act like one. if you're sane, act like one!

They are in the courtyard, sheikh. Let me call them here.

They all yearn for your sermon.

How can you sit there, you stupid?

Out, get out of my sight!

There's not one single sane man here!

Sit, my dear, sit.

Your mother said you went to the market.

Yes, father, we did. At noon.

-So she went back. -She did.

Father, she comes only to see you. But you don't even show your face.

I know that you didn't come home because she was here.

What did you do in the market?

Zahide had ordered something, father.

At the draper Nizam Effendi. A silk gown.

She ordered it a long time ago.

Good, dear. Good.

Come in, Kasim, come.

Did you find out about Mullah Konyali trying to damage us?

Yes, sir, I did.

My sheikh...

that person is...

Yunus.

He is Yunus.

He was overflowing with anger at our lodge and every one of us.

Let him overflow, Kasim. Let him overflow.

At least we know where he lives now.

What are your orders, sir? What should I do?

The buyer and seller agree, Kasim Effendi, what is there to do?

Sir...

everyone is free...

in business matters, harvesting and selling their grain.

But if you let him lower the price so much...

we might have nothing to eat in the lodge this winter.

Has Sergeant Zeki been giving us our bread until now, Kasim?

Why wouldn't we have any food?

No worries. When you have a goat, God lets it grass grow.

We will do as you order, my sheikh.

What do I know, Kasim Effendi? I said what I said.

The buyer and seller are in agreement.

We are not going to loot the market like Mongols.

If you don't know, how can I know, sheikh?

Let’s live and see, Kasim.

We don't know what happened nor how it happened.

Well, you'll take full responsibility.

I assigned you a duty, so I trust your judgement.

Amen.

-O God. -Hu!

You do look exhausted, friends.

Did we harvest the wheat...

or did we care too much for food that it troubles us?

Harvest the wheat, sift it out, load it on a cart...

go to the mill, have it turned into flour...

take it home, make a dough...

light the fire, roll out the dough, bake it well...

to make bread.

Consider all the troubles wheat has to go through on the way to becoming bread.

Is it possible to become a bread without getting crushed in the millstone...

getting kneaded by many hands and burning in a fire?

Is it easy to become a human?

Wheat is the closest thing to humans in the universe.

That must be why wheat represents Adam...

in other words, humankind.

As it is harvest time...

and I started blabbering.

Let me tell you the story of wheat from beginning to end.

Let me tell so that you can hear.

For something to grow, it has to be planted.

So everything starts as a seed.

That rest is another matter.

O seed! Some dry out, some grow.

But the wheat itself is a seed.

Because it's been there since the very beginning. Well...

but to breed the next generation you need a male and a female.

Divide a wheat seed into two. One side is Adam...

and one side Eve. Wise men say that...

the biggest secret of wheat is in its stomach.

What is this biggest secret?

Unity.

It's like alif. Pure, clear, and one.

Exempt from multitude.

I am an ignorant man who can't read and write.

But if you ask me what it is...

I say the issue is closed...

when our Lord says, "Be".

Kun. Be, period.

It will be.

Arguing this is stupid.

I'm telling you all this.

But they are secret.

Sharing them with the unworthy would damage the person.

What do they say? Don't give bulgur to an infant.

It breaks his tooth. A loveless person would be an animal.

When the alif in the middle of the seed falls to the ground...

it turns into a great crop.

Just like the great humanity tree grew out of Adam and Eve.

Just like that.

These things are not written in books, friends.

But do not think that I am the source.

Those who know it don't say it, those who say it don't appreciate it.

What I mean is, Adam and Eve...

are two halves of a wheat seed.

Eve was created from Hazrat Adam's Self, and after him...

who represents the Self.

All right.

Eve, I mean the female, became a mirror to Adam.

Adam saw himself in that mirror...

and admired the beauty of his own Self.

So much so that its beauty...

amazed him and made him forget...

God's order, in other words, his own truth.

When he gave in to his Self, he fell far from heaven.

Adam’s heaven was his own truth.

Well then, say it. What is this wheat story all about?

What is the moral of this story?

Of course, you cannot have a story without a moral.

Otherwise, it would be empty talk.

Let me tell you that as well. I've taken so long.

Grain becomes bread and feeds the Self.

Wheat is the symbol of the desires of the Self.

Whoever gives in to the desires of their Self...

and forgets their own truth, they will be kicked out of heaven.

What do you want?

My family and my fellow villagers are hungry. I want wheat.

Shall I give you himmah instead of wheat?

I want wheat.

Would you like us to pray for you instead?

Himmah and prayers don't help with the hunger, Your Highness.

I need wheat.

Give our guest a cartload of wheat.

God bless you.

What a mistake I've made, Your Highness!

You were ready to give me himmah, I insisted on wheat. Take it back.

As you suggested before pray for me.

You lost your chance, son.

We transferred the key to open your heart to someone else.

Go find him.

Request it from Tapduk Emre anymore.

He holds your key.

Wheat for wheat-seekers, prayer for prayer-seekers.

Whatever you ask for, Haji Bektash gives it to you.