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The Enchanted Castle

(Persian folk tale)

Was it so or not, the Padishah (Padishah – Persian. «supreme sovereign») The country of Haveran (Haveran is a small city in the south of Iran, in the province of Fars) had three sons. The elder was called Afruz (Afruz – Persian. «victorious»), the middle one is Shahruz (Shahruz – Persian. «royal, happy, lucky»), and the younger one is Behruz (Behruz – Persian. «successful»). (The «sacred» troika). One day they sat with their entourage and talked about this and that, until they talked about amazing places on earth and cities that are worth seeing. Here all the sons of the padishah really wanted to go on a long journey together, wander around the world, see the amazing and unprecedented. That’s what they decided. They went to their father, kissed the ground in front of him and asked for permission to go to distant lands. The Padishah answered them:

– Well you planned it! After all, it is not for nothing that our wise elders said: «It is better to wander than to sit at home in vain.» To go around the whole world is very good, a person sees a lot of interesting things and remembers what will be useful to him later. Go, take a walk, see different countries, talk to wise, experienced people and learn something from everyone. As the sages say: «From each hirman (Hirman – tok, threshing floor, a platform on which grain is poured), take an ear so that your hirman is larger than any other.» But if you go and in your journey you will reach

standing on the very border of the city of Nigaristan (Nigaristan is the residence of suburban shah palaces in the vicinity of Tehran), do not enter it and turn from there as soon as possible, because this is not a good city, and anyone who comes there becomes unhappy. The worst thing is that not far from the city, on a hill, behind a stone wall, there is a palace called the «Enchanted Castle». Anyone who enters it will lose everything. Dozens of young men did not listen to the advice of the elderly and went there. They lost their lives and wealth, and so far it has never happened that someone came to the city of Nigaristan and did not go to the enchanted castle. I say it again, my sons! Be on the alert, God forbid that your foot set foot in the city of Nigaristan and you went to the enchanted castle!

The sons bowed low to him, kissed the ground in front of him and said:

– We obey! With our soul and heart we heed the order of the Padishah!

The Padishah kissed everyone and said:

– Go, be healthy, may God protect you!

The next morning, the sons got up early, mounted good horses, rode out of the gates of the city and drove along the road. But every time they remembered their father’s speeches and his strict order, they began to think: «Is the city of Nigaristan and the enchanted castle such a dangerous place? Why didn’t Father tell us to go there? How does he know everything? Have you been there yourself, heard from someone or read in books? Why didn’t he tell us more, didn’t he explain what kind of city Nigaristan is and what kind of enchanted castle it is?»

Such seductive thoughts came into their heads all the time and deprived them of peace.

Days passed, months passed, they passed through towns and villages, until one day they came to a green, cheerful plain, which beckoned from afar with lush gardens. One could guess that behind the gardens there was a city, abundant with water and fertile. They drove a little further, entered the gardens and between the trees saw the battlements and towers of the city walls rising to the sky. People coming from the city began to come across them. The sons of the Padishah asked them: What kind of city is this?

They were answered:

– This is the city of Nigaristan.

Then all three remembered their father’s speeches, shuddered and froze in place… Finally Afruz said:

This is the same city standing on the border. Father strictly ordered us not to go to these places. However, as you can see, the city is worth a look. I don’t know what we should do, enter the city or not enter?

The younger brother, Behruz, answered him:

– How do you not know what to do? It is necessary to fulfill the father’s order and, without looking at this city, immediately turn back.

The middle brother said:

– Since we are already here, it would be nice to drive up to the city gate and look there, and then leave.

Then the elder brother spoke again:

– I don’t think this is the same city where our father didn’t tell us to go. That city should lie in ruins, but in this one, so beautiful and blooming, in my opinion, anyone can enter. We left home to see everything worth seeing, and this city is certainly worth seeing. I think we need to go there, and if this is the same Nigaristan that father spoke about, we will not go to the enchanted castle, we will not spend the night in the city, we will ride through this gate and, without dismounting, we will leave the other gate.

For a long time they argued like that, until suddenly they noticed that they had already arrived at the very city gate. As they saw the gates and the decorations above them, they bit their fingers in surprise. And when they looked through the gate into the city itself, they were just dumbfounded… They see: yes, this is the same city of Nigaristan, standing on the border, about which my father spoke.

Afruz, the oldest brother, said:

– Our father did not tell us to go to this city. But he either did not know what kind of city it was, or he thought that we were still helpless children and if someone attacked us, we would be defeated and captured. He doesn’t know that if someone comes face to face with us, he won’t be able to. Each of us is worth ten heroes in archery, swordsmanship and wrestling!

He said and added:

«Come what may! I’m going to the city! The middle brother said,

«I’m coming with you!»

And the youngest says:

– I have to go with you, because we are going together. If there is a road in front of us, we must go along it together, and if there is a pit in front of us, we must fall there together!

And so all three brothers entered the city. They’ve never seen anything like this before! Palaces and houses, gardens and flower beds amazed the eye, over every door, at every intersection, on every wall such pictures are painted – you can’t take your eyes off! But listen, what kind of people are there! Some are white, pink, strong, they are dressed in new beautiful clothes, they talk, laugh, are cheerful, they have a holiday from evening to morning, they do not know grief. These cheerful and beautiful people are more often found on the streets, and others, who are much more numerous than the first ones, work for them, and they, unhappy, hungry, ragged, thin, live in dilapidated houses on the outskirts, no one pays attention to them.

The brothers really liked the city, and they decided to spend a few days in it. We stayed there for two or three days and became completely different – just drunk. They didn’t care about anything, had fun, and only wanted to sing and dance.

One day, being in a cheerful mood, the elder brother Afruz said to the two younger ones:

– I keep thinking about why my father didn’t want us to go to this city. Was he jealous of our pleasures?

The middle brother replied:

– Maybe this city was destroyed earlier and the father knows about it since then, but does not know anything about today?

The younger brother said:

– Maybe he knows about something bad in this city that we haven’t met yet?

I won’t bother you with transmitting their conversation, but they talked for a long time. In the end, they got quite settled in the city.

One day Afruz says:

– Brothers! The place here is not bad and probably the enchanted castle is the same, and my father just told us not to go there in vain. We need to look into it too, and if you don’t come with me, I’ll go alone and come back soon.

Shahruz replied:

– I will not enter the castle, but I will go with you to its foot. Behrouz replied:

«If you’re both going, then I’m going with you.»

The brothers got up here, mounted their horses and went to look for the enchanted castle. But they didn’t ask anyone how to get to him, they all showed him the threshold, and then gave the same advice: «It’s better not to go there, it’s a bad place, they say; of the young men who went there, no one returned the same way they left.» And every inhabitant of the city of Nigaristan, who met them, reported something new about the enchanted castle. One said:

– In winter, instead of snow and rain, stones and lightning fall from the sky, and in summer, flames shoot out of doors and windows.

Another said:

– Padishah divov (Divas, devas – slav. «marvel» – supernatural humanoid beings, present in Turkic, Iranian, Slavic, Georgian, Armenian, mythologies, in Zoroastrianism – evil spirits) imprisoned in this castle the daughter of Shah Peri (Peri – Persian. in Persian mythology, creatures in the form of beautiful girls, a kind of analogue of European fairies) and wants to persuade her to become his wife. But the padishah is afraid that if some hero finds the way to the castle, he will take the beauty away, and therefore anyone who comes to the castle is attacked by divas.

Many said:

– The daughter of the Chinese emperor has been kidnapped and is being held there in chains. A strong guard is assigned to her so that no one can free her.

Others said:

– In that castle, in the dungeon, a girl named Chilgis is imprisoned (Chilgis is a Persian. «Forty braids», the «sacred» number 40. Science does not believe that some numbers are «bad» and others are «good», but such an opinion exists in religious and mystical thinking. Some examples. 3. The idea of the «divine trinity», being a reflection of the fact of the existence of a monogamous family. Dad, mom and child, the role of mom is downplayed due to the rule of patriarchy, instead of mom, the holy spirit borrowed from Zoroastrianism. 13. The damn dozen. The devil is a representative of the «wrong» pagan religion, who wore animal skins, horns, and a kind of hooves on his feet – initially in order to get closer to animals and catch them. 12 – «dozen», from «squeeze» – that is, «be able», the number 12 is divided into many numbers, and 13 it is not divided into anything – it turns out «a damn dozen». 40. Ancient tribes of Indo-Europeans lived for thousands of years in the Arctic Circle, where the polar day lasts 40 days, and the Sun was God. 666. Apocalypse, the number of the beast. In many ancient peoples, including the Jews, numbers were denoted by different letters of the alphabet, in Hebrew words are read from right to left: nun (50); vav (6); nes (200); nun (50); nes (200); sameh (60); kuf (100) in the sum of the numerical values and give the number 666, it turns out the emperor «Caesar Nero»). She was tied by her braids to a post so that she would not run away. She will be there until the hero Jahantig (Jahantig – Persian. «avalanche») and will not free her.

One or two people said:

– This castle belongs to the daughter of the Chinese emperor. She is very beautiful, but she does not marry anyone and will only marry someone who will answer all her questions. Until now, no one has been able to answer her questions, and those who have wooed, but have not answered the questions, are beheaded, impaled on spikes and put their heads on the battlements of the fortress walls. In addition, many young men there were bewitched, and some of them were petrified to the waist, and others – from head to toe.

The people they met told the three brothers about all this, and they wanted to see the enchanted castle more and more. It takes a long time to retell everything here, and, in short, Afruz asked those people who told about this castle:

– Have you seen everything you are talking about with your own eyes? Answered:

– No! We heard from our fathers, but none of us went there, because there is a Chinese border and a fortress behind the famous Chinese wall.

In the end, Afruz, Shahruz and Behruz left the city of Nigaristan in the direction of the enchanted castle. From a distance, they saw a castle rising to the sky on a hill behind a powerful stone wall… We reached the top of the hill. At the very wall they got off their horses and tied them to a tree. With great difficulty, they climbed the wall, descended from it and found themselves on the other side of the wall at the foot of the castle. The castle gates were closed and no one was there. For some reason, the brothers were seized with fear, they wanted to return, but Afruz thought and said:

– Since we came here, we should still look into the castle. If you’re afraid, stay here and wait for me. I’ll go there and come back quickly.

Shahruz and Behruz said:

– No, brother, let’s get out of here! We can’t go in there, this castle scares us, let’s get out of here!

Afruz replied:

– No, as the man said, that’s what he should do. Stay here, I’ll be back soon.

With the end of his sword, he lifted the bolt, opened the gate and entered the castle. Shahruz and Behruz, trembling with fear, were waiting for him at the castle gate. Two or three hours have passed, and he’s still gone. They were alarmed. Shahruz said:

– In my opinion, an accident has happened to our brother. Stay here, and I’ll go to the castle. If we come back from there with him, we’ll leave right away, and if I enter the castle and don’t come back either, don’t follow me, go straight to our city, to your father, and tell him everything.

Behrouz asked:

– Why don’t I follow you if you don’t come back?

Shahruz replied:

– Because I’m afraid you will also disappear with us, and more grief will be added to the grief of the father, he will be left completely without sons, his house will be empty, the hearth will go out. In any case, you alone should stay with him, so that in his old age he would have support!

With these words, Shahruz entered the castle gate and also disappeared… Behruz, when he saw that the middle brother also did not appear, wanted to do as he said and return to his father, but then he thought: «That would be ignoble! I’ll go to the castle, and if they are captured, I may be able to free them!»

Behruz entered the castle gate and saw: there is a huge building, there are a lot of ayvans (Ayvan is a covered terrace) and rooms, the walls are covered with paintings everywhere, the floors are made of marble and porphyry (Porphyry is a volcanic rock. Porphyry (fabric) is a purple – colored material used for the manufacture of outerwear of royal persons and other important persons). He really liked looking at all this at first, but then he suddenly thought: «After all, I came for my brothers and immediately lost my head in front of these paintings, so much so that I forgot about my brothers! I stand as if bewitched! That’s right, they called this castle enchanted!»

He moved from his place and went to look for his brothers. He moved from ivan to ivan, from room to room, until he reached a room that was larger than the others, and saw his brothers standing there confused, biting their finger in surprise, in front of some painting. He was delighted at the sight of his brothers. Looked around and sees: what beautiful paintings! He said to himself:

«We need an expert here to figure everything out! It seems that these paintings were drawn by the hand of the prophet Mani himself!» (Mani is a semi – legendary prophet, the founder of the religion of Manichaeism (III century AD). Manichean temples were decorated with wall paintings, and therefore Mani himself was considered a skilled artist).

Then he went up to the brothers and looked at the image they were looking at. Then his heart sank, and he, too, was numb with surprise. The three of them stared at the painting until it got dark. We spent the night there, in the castle, suffering from hunger and thirst. When the sun rose and it became quite light, they came up to the painting again. This time Behrouz examined her and saw next to her an inscription in Chinese, going from top to bottom: «Mei-Kui-Gul, daughter of the Chinese emperor.» As soon as I read it, I turned to my brothers and said:

– This is a portrait of the daughter of the Chinese padishah, and she herself is now in this country, and we are not sure why we were stunned here in front of her soulless image!

Afruz said this:

– That’s right you say! I fell in love with the one that is painted here, and until I come to her doorstep, the sweet drink of life will be bitter to me! Come what may, I’m getting on my horse right now and I’ll drive him day and night until I get to China. There I will go to the Chinese emperor and tell him that I am a prince and ask for the hand of his daughter and add: either take this sword and cut off my head, or give me your daughter! And both of you go back to our father from here right now and tell him everything about me.

The younger brothers themselves fell in love with that girl, but they did not dare to say it openly and therefore said nothing:

– No, we can’t let you go alone. We’re coming with you.

No matter how much he tried to persuade them not to go, they answered:

– We have to go!

In the end, the three of them headed out of the enchanted castle towards the Chinese capital. They traveled through many different cities until they reached the capital of China and stopped there in a caravanserai. The next day Afruz went to the bathhouse, washed himself thoroughly, anointed his hair and was about to go to the emperor. But then the middle brother Shahruz told him:

«You can’t do it that way. After all, the emperor probably won’t want to give his daughter to some alien. You better get to his daughter and make her love you. When you lure her and catch her in a snare, then – whether her father agrees or does not agree – she will still become your wife. Afruz replied to this:

– No, I won’t do that. I know that no one can get to this girl.

In short, he went to the palace of the Chinese emperor, introduced himself to the chief courtier and asked permission to see the emperor. And he allowed few people to come to him and the courtier replied:

– Find out, check carefully whether he is telling the truth that he is the son of the shah. Ask him if he brought me a message from his father or if his father was angry with him and he came here to ask for my mediation so that I could reconcile them. Or maybe he is seeking refuge in my palace? Anyway, if he brought any message, take it away and bring it to me.

When the courtier came out to Afruz and began to question him about everything, he was upset and said:

– It’s all wrong and wrong! I dreamed of going to China and seeing the emperor there. Of course, I have a request to him, but I can’t tell anyone but him about this request.

They negotiated for a long time. In the end, the emperor allowed Afruz to enter. He came, bowed low, laid gifts at the feet of the emperor, tried, as far as possible, to be sweet-spoken and show submission. When the emperor found out that Afruz was telling the truth, that he really was the king’s son, he began to treat him very graciously and said:

– You’re like my nephew. Since you have come to me, it is not appropriate for you to stay in a caravanserai (a caravanserai is a large public building in the Near and Middle East and Central Asia, in cities, on roads and in uninhabited places, serving as shelter and parking for travelers, as a rule – for trade caravans). I’ll have a whole house prepared for you.

Then he turned to the servant:

– Prepare for shahzade (Shahzade – Persian. «the king’s son, prince») one of my houses with a garden, slaves, maids, a gatekeeper and eunuchs, so that he does not stay in the caravanserai.

Afruz agreed, but did not say that he was not alone, but with his brothers, who also stopped at the caravanserai. For several days he lived in the house that was assigned to him. During this time, he made friends with slaves and maids and began to ask them quietly about Mei-Kui: what is she like, is she going to get married or not? Is she in love with someone or is someone in love with her? Does she have a betrothed fiance? About this, one of their maids, who knew everything about Mei-Kui well, told him:

– The princess in the whole vast Chinese country has no equal in beauty, and as beautiful as she is, she is just as reasonable. She wants to choose a groom that she would like. Many princes came to woo, but she did not want any of them, and even the son of the Indian padishah did not like her.

Afruz asked:

«What does her father say about it?»

The girl replied:

«She agreed with her father that she would question anyone who would woo her, and if he turned out to be reasonable, she would become his wife, even if he was a beggar, and if he was ignorant, she would not marry him, even if he was a padishah.

Let’s leave Afruz for now and talk about Shahruz and Behruz.

When they both saw that the elder brother did not appear for three or four days, they became worried and thought: «What if, God forbid, the emperor got angry with Afruz and killed him or threw him into prison?»

Distressed, alarmed, they sought out the palace of the Chinese emperor, came to the chief courtier and asked him about his brother:

– What happened to the man who came here a few days ago?

He answered them:

– The Emperor placed at his disposal a house with a garden, slaves and maids. He’s doing well.

The brothers asked him if they could, if possible, allow them to go to see Afruz. The courtier asked:

«Are you related to him?» Those say:

– Yes, he is our older brother.

Then the courtier led them to Afruz. Their arrival was very unpleasant for Tom. The younger brothers, as soon as they saw that the elder was alive and well, were very happy. We sat with him for two hours, talked and left. The courtier told the Chinese emperor about this visit, and he did not like Afruz’s act: why did he not say anything about the brothers, why did he leave them in the caravanserai? After that, the emperor stopped accepting Afruz with the same honor and respect, he began to treat him quite differently.

In the end, Afruz’s patience ran out, and one day he asked a courtier:

«If I ask the emperor for something, won’t he get angry?» Can I tell him everything directly, or should I tell someone else first so that they can tell him later?

The courtier replied:

– No, he won’t be angry. But you need to ask his permission first, and then make a request.

Afruz asked for permission and went to the emperor. He entered, bowed to the ground, kissed the threshold. And the emperor was in a good mood that day. Two people whom he considered thorns in his path, he managed to eliminate by cunning, two or three good news about such cases came from different parts of the country, and besides, a beautiful slave was brought from Kashmir, from India. And he was not averse to talking to someone or fulfilling someone’s request.

The prince, when he saw that the emperor was cheerful, thought: «Fate favors the fulfillment of my wish!»

Before speaking, he bowed to the ground once more and again asked for permission. The Emperor asked him:

– Why didn’t you tell me the day you came to us that you had two more brothers with you and didn’t ask me to put them in my place? After all, these brothers did not want to leave you alone, they came with you from the other end of the world, they would have been near you in a difficult moment. Why did you leave them when you were lucky? I don’t like what you did!

Afruz then realized why the emperor was not as merciful to him as before. And he also told him:

– Tell me, what do you want from me? Money? Honors? Afruz replied:

– I ask of you what is above all this, that you make me a slave of your threshold!

The emperor turned to the courtier and said:

«He’s obviously asking for Mei-Kui’s hand in marriage?» Explain to him well what my daughter Mei-Kui is like. I have a big disagreement with her. I want her to become the wife of a rich padishah or shahzada, but she does not agree, she wants her future husband to be smart and reasonable. Says: «I will become the wife of a clever beggar, but I will not become the wife of a stupid padishah.» Five years ago, when her mother died and she was in great grief, I promised her that I would give her only for someone she would love herself, and since then I have not been forced to. Tell this shahzada: if he really wants to take my daughter as a wife, let him go to her so that she looks at him and asks about something. If he can answer all her questions, his wish will be fulfilled, and if not, I will not give up my daughter for anything.

Afruz listened, bowed to the ground and left the palace. The next day, he placed a crown studded with emeralds on his head, put on gold-woven robes, girded himself with a jeweled sword and headed for the Mei-Kui house, which adjoined the imperial palace. He sees: the place is quiet and peaceful, there is only one gatekeeper at the door, no voices are heard. He entered the room where the girl was. As soon as I looked at her, I immediately lost consciousness and fell down. They brought rose water, splashed it in his face, he woke up and saw: she is a hundred times more beautiful than her image in the enchanted castle! He lost consciousness again, regained consciousness, got up and, panting, pale, approached her.