The Moor’s heads

A beautiful girl, who loved taking care of the flowers and plants on her balcony, used to live within the ancient neighbourhood Kalsa in Palermo. One day a Moor, who was passing by, saw her and immediately fell in love with her.

The two became lovers but when the young girl realised that her beloved was already married with kids overseas, she was furious of jealousy and wanted revenge. She waited for him to fall asleep and then beheaded him.

She made her head a kind of vase by planting there basil, the kings’ plant. She put the “vase” on her balcony, watering it with her tears, the perfumed plant that grew so blooming that it caught the curiosity and envy of every neighbour.

Soon, indeed, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood started displaying vases looking like Arab men crafted by their local potters on their own balconies.