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Tulips in Ancient History
Tulips are a turkish flower in origin and it remains the national flower of modern Turkey. (The Dutch tulip is another story). The story goes something like this... A Persian youth named Farhad, a prince some say, was deeply in love with the fair maid Shirin. One day, word reached him (false word as it tragically turned out) that his beloved had been killed. Gripped by unbearable grief, he mounted his favorite horse and galloped over a cliff to his death. From his numerous wounds droplets of blood trickled onto the ground. From each drop of blood a scarlet tulip sprang, a symbol of his perfect love.
Throughout the centries Turkish Sultans held great tulip festivals with lavish arrangements of exquisite tulips decorating the royal courtyards and it is said one such Sultan spent so much money on his annual tulip festival that the expenditures were brought out as charges in his impeachment trial. He is the first in recorded history who can truly be said to have "lost his head" over tulips.
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