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Al Legend

Sepia-toned parchment illustration of four Afghan women confronting the Al demon during a childbirth ritual. The demon, with wild red hair and a smoke-cloak, reaches toward the newborn as the women repel her with iron, prayer, burning rue, and courage inside a rustic mountain home. 'OldFolktales.com' inscribed at the bottom right.

The Al of Afghanistan: An Asian Legend of Childbirth

In the remote villages nestled among Afghanistan’s towering mountains, where snow-capped peaks pierce the clouds and valleys hide ancient secrets, the elders have always known that the hours surrounding birth are sacred and dangerous. For generations, from the Tajik settlements in the north to the Hazara communities in the central highlands, and throughout the Pashtun villages of the south, families
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