Heart Mother Tale

Heart Mother Tale tells how love and the power of song lead from darkness to light. Below you’ll find the full text, key messages, a short parent guide and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

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Heart Mother Tale — Full Text

High snowy mountains… Half our lives are day, half are night. Seas are fairy tales, skies are riddles. A gentle dawn breeze moves across the world… In this wide world, my child, some live harshly, some humanely — and living humanely is the hardest. Many have come and gone from this jar-bottomed world: the wise and the mad, the sighted and the blind; from donkeys to horses to mules; from the timid to those who face giants. Count as much as you can…

In very ancient times, before time itself had names, people used to tell this: There were no names for the months. A brave woman called the Valiant Mother had twelve sons. She called them only “my children.” As they grew, they became sailors, going out to sea each day to gather fish and sponges — in short, to become good sons. The Valiant Mother was proud of their hard work.

But her happiness did not last. A cruel lord who ruled the fortress seized the twelve brothers, chained them to one another and threw them into a dungeon.

Seeking a way out, the eldest said, “If anyone frees us here, it will be a valiant mother.”
The second said, “Not she alone — only her song can free us.”

For two full years they waited for the moment their mother would stand by the castle wall and sing. It turned out that the only way to break the chains and escape was through her song.

At last that day arrived. The mother, her patience spent, stood by the wall and began to sing with all her heart — a plaintive, burning song. (Verses omitted here for brevity in English; on request I can render the quatrains poetically.)

The wind carried the song in rhythm into the dungeon. With the song came love into the brothers’ hearts; the dark lit up. Filled with joy, they pulled and broke the chains, ran out and embraced their mother.

“Without you we would have rotted here, Mother,” they said. She held them and replied sadly, “You can’t stay. Go to other lands, divide into twelve branches and build your own lives.”
“We will not go without you,” they said.
“I will be wherever you are,” she answered. “As long as your hearts beat with love and respect, I am with you.”

The eldest said, “We have no names, Mother. How can we go nameless?”
The twelfth added, “We don’t even know what we shall do.”

“Line up before me,” she said. Looking at each in turn, she named them: “Your name is Ocak (January), Şubat (February), Mart, Nisan, Mayıs, Haziran, Temmuz, Ağustos, Eylül, Ekim, Kasım, and Aralık (December).”

“In time you will learn from Mother Nature the works worthy of your names. May your road be open and your sustenance blessed. Now go.”
“Where shall we find her?” asked Ocak.
“She will find you,” said their mother. “She will tell you your tasks, give you work and bread — do not worry.”

And so, dear children, the Heart Mother Tale ends. May your life be full of friendship and love. May you always look at life with a smile.

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Heart Mother Tale: Key Messages

• The power of word and song: A song can bring courage and hope.
• Enduring family bonds: A mother’s love knows no distance.
• Responsibility and growth: Names and tasks shape identity — and time itself.

Parent Guide

1. What does “breaking the chains with a song” symbolize?
2. What do the month-names teach about seasons and responsibility?
3. Which values are highlighted by “Mother Nature” in the story?

External Resources and Internal Links

• External (DoFollow): UNICEF — Parenting
• External (DoFollow): Britannica — Folktale
• Internal: For more tales, read here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)