Once upon a time, when peaks were still being named, in the north of Iraq, lived a mean king

named Ibrahim. His palace was placed on the highest peak which he had named after himself. The royal palace was packed with servants busily running around doing things servants do. Most were scrubbing the floor or polishing surfaces, others preparing the magnificent feast, and others decorating the palace with golden streamers and silver balloons, for that night the king would celebrate his 76th birthday!

Nobody wanted to come to his party. This was no different than any other year. King Ibrahim was very mean to his people. He had set strict (and stupid) laws which he, himself, did not have to follow. For instance; you cannot eat any tomatoes, because those are the kings favourite fruit or another law is having to give half of your salary to the king. If you should be the one to break the law, you should be put in jail for 10 years and then work for the king 5 extra years as the kings servant, without getting paid. On that very same day, fourteen years before, a little girl named Maritza was born. She was beautiful with long black hair warm brown skin coloured skin. She was the perfect child, that was well behaved and anyone would want to be her parent. Her parents were very proud of their beautiful child. As she grew older, Maritza started to wander around the village more often. Soon she had been to almost every place in the village. But one day Maritza decided she wanted to make a left turn down the alley where her parents had forbidden her to go. She had always wondered what was down that dark alley. But then she remembered her promise to her parents, "I promise I will never go down that alley next to the apple seller." But Maritza couldn't help herself. Turning down the alley she

noticed that there was a small light at the end, she kept walking. The closer she got, the better she could see. At the end of the alleyway was and field filled with a mysterious red fruit. Because Maritza was still young, she did not know that the mysterious fruit was a tomato and she also didn't know that the King forbade people from eating them. So Maritza, so young and innocent ate one. She thought, "Wow this is the most wonderful thing I have ever tasted!" She realized, "One more won't hurt!" But she ended up eating at least 8 or 9 She hadn't realized how long she had been there, but she knew it had been a long time, so she decided to leave. She wondered, "What is that delicious food?" and "Why do my parents not allow me to go there?" She thought about telling her parents, but then she realized that if she did, they would never let her go back. The next day Maritza decided to back to the wonderful field. She was eating lots of tomatoes. All of a sudden she saw a man in a white and green uniform. He had a giant basket and he was picking the fruit. She grabbed one last tomatoes a made a run for it. She fled down the alley and ran all the way back to her house. In her room she took out the tomato from her pocket and ate it. In the morning, Maritza woke up and sat in bed. Tariq

her black cat was with her, she told him, "I really want to go back to the field, those red, juicy, sweet fruits are delicious!" Tariq meowed loudly. She thought about it a little bit longer. "But what if that man comes back and finds me, maybe those are his fruit, he will think that I am a trespasser." Tariq added, "Meooowww!" Maritza responded, "I have to go back. I am going to go back."

So little Maritza left the house at quarter past two and ran all the way to the tomato field. But when she got there, she ran straight into two men who were picking tomatoes.

Backing up slowly to take a better look, she noticed their golden threads and the beautiful embroidered royal emblem on the top left side of their green jackets. That's when she realized that this was bad, very bad. Those were the kings royal tomato pickers. She sniffed the air, and she could smell this magical aroma of the royal tomatoes. The men looked up, she backed away further, they started walking towards her, she quickly swiveled her body around and dashed. Maritza tried to run, but the two men ran after her, she was only half way up the alley when they caught her. The first man spoke, "You, ma'am, will be in trouble by the law! We shall bring you to the king and he shall decide what will happen to you." Maritza was to scared to reply. She was brought to the king. The royal gates opened, she was dragged inside. "What has this child done?" boomed the king. "She has been stealing the royal tomatoes, your majesty," replied the second man. "HOW DARE SHE!" raged the king, "Call Lydia!" As Lydia arrived she asked, "Yes, your majesty?" "This young woman has broken the law!" the king exclaimed. "And which law is that?" questioned Lydia. Getting quite annoyed, the king yelled at the judge,

"SHE WAS STEALING MY TOMATOES!" Lydia turned to Maritza and asked, "Young madam, how old are you?" Maritza barely managed to get the words out, "I'm 6." Disappointed, Lydia turned to the king, "I understand that the child has broken the law, but she is too young to go to jail. She shall have to wait until she is at least the age of fourteen." The king was furious. He sent a messenger home with Maritza to inform her parents. Maritza's parents were very disappointed in her, but they were even more disappointed in themselves for not telling her the reason why she was not allowed to go down the forbidden alley. The king had to wait eight years, but he waited, patiently, year after year. Soon the year came when king was going to turn 76 and Maritza was going to turn 14. Maritza, as well as her parents, knew that she was going to be put in jail. But they had a plan. If their plan worked, she would not have to go to jail, but if it failed, they would all have to work for the king, for the rest of their lives. By the time it was Maritza (and the king)'s birthday, she had already spread the word to the whole village about her plan. Even though everybody was busy trying to

decide what they were going to get the king for his birthday, (another strange law) they found the time to get ready for Maritza's plan. Her plan was to try and convince the judge that the king was being unfair with all of the villagers. But if Lydia was not convinced, Maritza and her family would suffer and would have to work as servants for the king. So as the day progressed, her family got more worried and almost thought of quitting, but they loved her too much to give up, so they persevered. At 12:00 am, everybody gathered at the king's palace to watch Maritza get imprisoned and offer the king his presents. Maritza was very happy to see so many people there. The king announced that he would receive all of the presents first and then Maritza would be imprisoned. All of the villagers, one by one gave their present it the king. The king was pleased with all of his gifts. The king spoke, "Now it is time for Maritza to be imprisoned!" He turned to Lydia. Now it was Lydia's turn to speak, "Now Maritza, please step up beside the king." Maritza stepped up beside the king. Lydia turned to the crowd and said, "Does anybody want to say any last words to Maritza?" Maritza's mother spoke up, "I love you honey!" Then her father spoke, "Me too."

Her mother said, "I think that you are being unfairly punished!" Zaafir, her father added, "Yes, eating tomatoes is not a crime." The king was shocked, "Arrest them as well! They are speaking against my laws!" The apple seller declared, "I hate giving you half of my salary!" A woman admitted, "I am as poor as a brick! How am I supposed to find the money to buy you a present?" King Ibrahim was getting furious, "Arrest them! Arrest them all," he bellowed. The two tomato pickers disagreed, "No! Guys, listen up. King Ibrahim is taking advantage of us. He doesn't deserve to be king!" Everybody agreed with the guards. The king hollered, "SHUT UP EVERYBODY!" The courtyard went dead silent. "It is up to Lydia, my most trusted judge, to decide whether Maritza should be put in jail, or not. You villagers cannot interfere with her decision! So what is your decision Lydia?" Lydia began, "Well, I have done some rethinking and I have decided that, even though Maritza has broken the law, you have not been fair, with any of your villagers. I have not been fair with them either. My decision is, that you should be, "Everybody waited for what seem like an eternity, "imprisoned."

The king was outraged, "WHAT! YOU CANNOT PUT ME IN JAIL! I AM THE KING! YOU WERE MY TRUSTED JUDGE" Lydia cut him off, "Guards take him away." The crowed jumped into a humongous applause. Maritza exclaimed, "Let's celebrate!" So they did, for three whole weeks. Maritza received tons of presents and Lydia was crowned as the new queen. As for the king, he changed, after he realized that what he did to his citizens was way too harsh. He became very nice and Maritza forgave him. One day it came to Lydia's attention that the peak was still called 'Royal peak Ibrahim'. She decided to have a peak renaming ceremony. Instead of being attentionseeking and naming it after herself, she let Maritza name it. Maritza did not know what to call it, she spent days pondering about the mountains name, and finally she decided that she would name it 'The Unnamed Peak' and it's name has stayed to this day.