Lunja is a girl of beautiful appearance, indeed enchanting in beauty. She is the daughter of two monsters, or rather two very ugly monsters. They are the ogre and his wife, the ogress. Those monsters our Arab heritage mentioned long ago, especially in Algerian society.
Princess of the Forests: There was a saying Lunja always heard while playing with her rooster, which meant: What are you thinking in your mind, Lunja? That saying was an indication of Lunja’s beauty, her elegance and grace. This extraordinary beauty that made all the princes of that ancient era always desire to marry her and propose to ask for her hand. But the fame of her monster parents would spread the news of Lunja’s beauty and force those princes to think a lot before taking that step with two wild monsters like them.
Lunja and Muqdash: One day, Lunja met a young man called Muqdash. This young man was an ordinary resident from the local people, not a prince like others who had tried to approach Lunja. But he was extremely clever as well. Unfortunately, he was wicked.
Muqdash didn’t love Lunja or was infatuated with her like the other princes. Rather, Muqdash was vengeful and wanted to take revenge on the monsters from the same cup they had often given to others. He decided to take revenge on them through their beautiful daughter Lunja.
Muqdash deceived Lunja with the fake love he carried for her. As soon as he was assured that Lunja loved him and fell into his love, which was the trap Muqdash had drawn for the poor girl, her mother the ogress learned of the matter, especially when Lunja began talking about her lover Muqdash, that he was a polite and kind person.
Here, the ogress mother kept searching behind Muqdash until she learned of his plot to force her daughter the wild girl Lunja to obey him. She decided to take revenge on Muqdash. Through some of her tricks, she managed to make Muqdash fall into one of her traps, then took him and pushed him into a deep well she had dug for him herself, in order to torture him and then feed him to her family.
Lunja learned of the matter. The beautiful girl was also kind-hearted to the extreme. She grieved that she would see her lover being eaten like that by her family. Lunja went to him and remained beside the well, sitting crying beside her lover buried inside it. He couldn’t stop playing with her head with his cunning words and his fake promises.
Muqdash asked Lunja to help him get out of his captivity. The kind girl hesitated so as not to anger her mother. Muqdash kept playing with her head until he convinced her that he would get out of his captivity and go far away, and he would not mention that Lunja was the one who got him out, and that he would return to her again and try to convince her monster parents to face them.
Lunja was a beautiful and extremely kind girl. She believed her treacherous lover Muqdash. Indeed, she helped him get out of his captivity inside the well. But instead of Muqdash fulfilling his promise to her, he struck her on the head repeatedly and repeatedly until he smashed her head completely, and Lunja died. Then he dragged her with his two hairy hands and threw her inside the well, after changing their clothes together, and went to rest in a place adjacent to the monsters’ house.
In the evening, the monsters’ family servants came from the farm to eat the feast of Muqdash that the mother ogress would present to them for dinner. Indeed, the mother prepared a delicious feast. But when she went to bring Muqdash to serve him, she was surprised that it was not Muqdash, but her daughter the wild girl Lunja, who was innocent and had believed that treacherous person.