[3] In the tale dating back to around 1637,[4] or possibly 1638[5][6] or 1639[7] according to some sources, Nora, a girl from Malësia, was abandoned at an orphanage at birth by her father, a noble warrior who desired a son to fight the Ottoman Empire.
Raised as a boy by her aunt, Nora grew up to be exceptionally beautiful, likened to a Zana, a mythical mountain fairy.
[citation needed] Word of Nora's beauty reached the pasha of Rozafati Castle in Shkodra, of Bosnian origin, who sought to marry her under Albanian tradition.
[citation needed] Historical sources give a less folkloric version of the story, focusing more on the ongoing struggle of over a decade between the Ottomans and Clementi highlanders initially due to their collaboration with the Montenegrins, and their fame as the most stubborn between Albanian tribes, rather than the portrait of Nora or any other local heroine, though they mention that women fought as well.
[7] François Lenormant in his Turcs et Monténégrins (Paris, 1866) mentions an Ottoman army of over 30,000 with 900 on the Clementi side, while the conflict starts in 1624 and spikes in 1638.