The HEADS of MOOR: a tragic love legend.
It was the year 1000 at "Al Hàlisah", an Arab quarter of Palermo now called the Kalsa, and the Moors had conquered the island for more than a hundred years. A young girl, beautiful but lonely, facing the lodge of the house was noticed by a Moor who approached the flowery balcony and with his song courted her. She could not resist the declaration of love and welcomed him into her arms. The two, madly in love, lay together for days on end.
One day, the Moor announced that he had to return to the East where he had a wife and children.
The young woman, betrayed and gripped by deadly anger, could never accept the burdensome secret. The last night of ardor was fatal: she decided that no other woman would lie with her beloved after her. The beautiful girl armed herself with a dagger and, while the young Arab was asleep, stabbed him without hesitation.
To make sure that no one other than her would have wanted him to have his head cut off, that she would remain with her forever.
The young woman, in fact, decided to use it as a vase. The sprout of "Basilikos", grew prosperous, watered by the tears of the woman while treating him, became a symbol of their love over time. All the inhabitants of the district "Al Hàlisah" observed with amazement the plant so luxuriant and were stunned by its good smell, so much to wonder what was the secret of the girl.
The secret was the vessel, and so the Moor’s Heads became the keepers of flourishing bushes on every balcony.