The gorge of the Iron Gate Pass is the setting of a legendary love story. According to the legend, a princess of the Kingdom of Yanqi called Tzouhla had fallen in love with a poor herdsman named Tayir. The royal court opposed the relationship and a minister Karehan convinced the king to have Tayir killed. As the princess tried to rescue her lover from the king's soldiers, they both fell to their death in the gorge. A tumulus is said to mark the place where the two lovers were buried opposite to the gate to the pass.