The Tale of the Orphan Boy. Part - 2

Part - 2

Many years passed. The boy grew into a young man. One day he asked the old man what was behind the locked doors. The old man showed him six rooms filled with all sorts of wonders, but he did not show him the seventh, explaining: “If you enter this room, you will condemn yourself to sufferings that may end in your death. Why should I open it, when I have come to love you so much, and you have become like a son to me?”

The young man said nothing in response, but the thought of the seventh room would not leave him in peace. And one day, seizing the moment, he stole the key to that room from the old man, opened it, and entered.

He had never seen anything like this in his life. In the room, a bottomless blue lake shimmered, with a towering chinar tree growing on its shore. Suddenly, three doves flew in from somewhere.

The first dove said:
— I think I smell a human here.

The second dove said:
— Yes, there is a strange scent.

The third dove said:
— Where could a human come from? You talk about humans as if you dream only of them!

With these words, the dove shed its feathers and transformed into a girl of unparalleled beauty. The girl looked back at the other two doves:
— Let’s go swim; the water is simply magical today!

The girl entered the water and began to swim. The young man, forgetting everything, rushed towards her. The two doves, unable to shed their feathers in time, flew away. The young man picked up the feathers and waited for the girl to come out of the water. The girl approached him and, lowering her gaze, said:
— You have seen not only my face but also my body, you have touched my clothes, and now I smell of human spirit, so from now on, we are husband and wife. But it will be very difficult for us; we will face great hardships. Give me the dress. I will go to my father and ask for his blessing for us.

— No, you will fly away and deceive me, — said the young man. — It’s better to go to my old man; he will advise us on what to do.

— Son, — said the old man when they came to him, — this girl is a peri. You did not listen to me and opened the seventh door; from now on, your fate is in the hands of the father of this girl, the king of the peris. Return her dress; let her go to her father and tell him everything.

The girl returned home late, and her parents imprisoned her as punishment. In the morning, when she told them everything without hiding anything, her father said:
— There is no remedy for death, and there are no locks against a thief. Bring me your chosen one in the form of a bird.

When the girl fulfilled her father's will, he asked the young man:
— Can you pay a ransom for my daughter?

— No, — replied the young man, — other than what I am wearing, I have nothing.

— Well, — said the king of the peris, — then fulfill my task. Here are two bags of millet. One contains white millet, and the other contains black. I will mix them now, — he poured both bags into one pile and mixed them, — by morning you must separate the millet again.

The king left, and the young man sat by the huge pile of millet and cried out of despair, realizing that he could not separate the grains in a month.

Suddenly, the bride appeared and asked what was troubling him so much. The young man told her everything.

— Don’t be upset, — she comforted her fiancé, — lie down to sleep, and in the morning, stand between the bags as if you have just finished your work.

Seeing that the task was completed, the king of the peris said:
— Here is your second task. If you complete it, you may marry my daughter and live happily. By morning, you must build a glass house with two rooms. In one room, there should be an oil lake, on its shore a golden chinar tree should grow, a golden fish should swim in the oil, and a golden nightingale should sing on the chinar. In the other room, there should be a milk lake, on its shore a silver chinar tree should grow, a silver fish should swim in the milk, and a silver nightingale should sing on the chinar. And let the golden fish swim to the silver one, and the silver one to the golden, and let them play together. And let the golden nightingale hear the song of the silver nightingale, and the silver one of the golden, and let their songs sound the same and differently.

Thus spoke the father of the peris and vanished. The saddened young man was approached by his bride. Learning of her father's command, she comforted the young man and by morning did everything as it should be.

The father of the peris became angry, suspecting that his daughter was helping the young man. Therefore, calling the young man, he said:
— You know that my three daughters look alike, like hares from the same doe. I myself cannot tell who is older and who is younger since the day they were born. So now, three doves will fly here, and you must determine which of them is your bride. This is not a task, — the king of the peris smiled feignedly — I just want you to determine your future wife not with your mind, but with your heart.

Having said this, the king of the peris clapped his hands, and three doves appeared in the room. Two sat quietly, while one trembled slightly with excitement. And the young man pointed to her.

When the young man and the girl left the room, the girl said:
— Father will not leave us in peace; we must run away from here.

They transformed into swift-winged birds and flew away from the father’s palace. The angry king of the peris sent a guard after them. When the guard was about to catch up with the fugitives, the girl and the young man transformed into quails and landed on the ground. Then the guard turned into a falcon. The fugitives immediately transformed into millet and scattered on the ground. The guard turned into a rooster and began to peck at the millet.

But the fugitives transformed into snakes and crawled towards the lake. The guard, turning back into a man, almost caught up with them, but the fugitives, reaching the lake with black water, transformed into black fish. No matter how hard the guard tried to find the black fish in the black water, he could not, and he had to return to the king of the peris, having failed to complete his task.

Then the father himself rushed after the fugitives, and he was close to catching them, but at the last moment, they transformed into butterflies and managed to cross the border separating the land of the peris and the land of humans.

The girl and the young man transformed back into humans. Reaching a river, not far from which a settlement was visible, and crossing it, they decided to rest. The young man suggested that his bride wait for him while he went to the settlement to see what kind of people lived there. The girl agreed.

But as soon as the young man left, a wild boar jumped out from the thick reeds and severely wounded the girl. Upon returning, the young man saw that his bride was bleeding. Dying, she said to him:
— Now we will part forever. If you guard me until morning, you will bury me on your land, but if you cannot, my father will take my flesh, and you will be left with only the dress of a butterfly.

— I will do everything as you instructed, — promised the young man. — I will stay here forever and serve you.

The girl died. The young man sat by her all night, not closing his eyes. Only by morning did drowsiness take hold of him for a moment, but that moment was enough for the father of the peris to kill the young man and take his daughter’s flesh...

In the morning, the astonished inhabitants of the settlement saw on the riverbank an unfamiliar dead young man, holding beautiful butterfly wings to his chest.

Deciding that only an extraordinary person could die like this, they buried him on a high cemetery, thus completing the short but amazing journey of the orphan boy.

The Tale of the Orphan Boy. Part - 1