Читать книгу Fairytales for adults in the fourth dimension - Slava Sarazhin - Страница 9

Oh, the East! Turkish delight, belly dancing, the heat, melons, Sultans, viziers, beautiful women, and fairy tales like "A Thousand and One Nights"… By the way; today I have another fairy tale ripe for the telling. Perhaps not exactly like those of "A Thousand and One Nights," but very close.

Some time ago, in one the furthest Eastern states, when people travelled through the air using environmentally friendly flying carpets, there lived a beautiful princess. Of course, she wore traditional style trousers, small flat shoes bent upwards at the toes, embroidered with emeralds and cotton made from silver and gold, and whatever else an Oriental princess should have.

Also, she thought very highly of herself. As it says in the fairytale: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me who is the fairest of them all" was nothing compared to her self-esteem.

Her beauty was heralded on the eastern markets, and people prostrated themselves in front of her and groaned, pretending that her beauty had blinded their unworthy eyes. I must tell you that they all performed this quickly and correctly, because the princess was always escorted by her faithful executioner, who carried a huge sword. So everyone agreed with the beauty of the princess unconditionally. Of course, she was bored, because there were no computers, social networking had not yet been invented, and a camel is not a Bentley.

One day, she was walking through the bazaar and observing the citizens with their brightly colored bottoms raised towards the scorching sun. Their faces were buried in the dust, blinded by her beauty, and slightly scared by the executioner's sharp and shiny sword. The Princess stopped in surprise, and the executioner smiled a happy and wide smile.

In the midst of the bottoms, sticking up like watermelons in the fields, a man was standing. The Princess opened her mouth in amazement, and held out her hand to restrain the excited executioner.

The man was a water carrier, and large copper pots were hanging from the short yoke over his mighty shoulders. The water-carrier was handsome, and that was the main reason that convinced the princess to stop the executioner. But what he was doing also interested the princess! He was looking at the sun through smoked glass. The Princess had a similar piece herself from the last eclipse.

She quietly crept up to the water-carrier and asked him: "Hasn't it blinded you?"

""No," the water-carrier replied in a deep rich voice, and it sank deeply into the Princess' heart."

"It's very beautiful!" The man continued, not looking up from what he was doing. "It burns like a torch in the hand of the night watchman on the main wall. Who lit it? What is the meaning of this phenomenon?"

The young man thoughtfully lowered the hand holding the glass and turned to the Princess. His eyes were still teary from looking at the sun, so he didn't recognize her at first, but when the visual signal reached his inquisitive mind, the piece of glass fell from his hand. The pots of water crashed onto the dusty ground, spilling the precious water, and he fell on his knees. However, if you think he was scared of the big fellow with the sword towering behind the princess, then you would be deeply mistaken. The young man was bold, and the princess was really beautiful.

"Give me some water," was all the water-carrier could manage to squeeze out, his eyes fixed on the beautiful face of the princess.

"Oh, I forgot", he came to his senses and eagerly drank from one of his own pots of water. "Oh, beautiful princess," began the water-carrier. "How can I make amends to you?" At the same time the executioner who was stood behind the Princess, drew his hand across his throat in answer to the question.

The Princess was completely confused.

First of all, she wanted to throw herself on to the water-carrier's chest and feel the beat of his brave heart.

Secondly, she realized that by the movement of the bottoms raised up to the skies that no longer resembled watermelons, that the entire square was listening carefully to their conversation.

Thirdly, discipline is discipline, and if she didn't cut the water-carrier's head off then her reputation would be ruined.

Fourthly, in the end, she was a princess and he was only a water-carrier, but his pitch black curly hair shone in the sun.

Since the Princess was a politically trained lady, she was well versed in palace intrigue, and the master classes by the court vizier had done their job. She hid the strange feeling that had arisen somewhere in her heart, to the very tip of her folded shoe, and said: "Because you broke the law, and looked directly at me, you will be killed."

"Oh, yeah…" Screamed the court executioner happily, as it had been a long time since he had any work to do.

"However!"

"Yeah, yeah," a puzzled sound broke from the executioner's lips, which made the raised bottoms in the square change their positions to hear better.

"However," repeated the Princess. "In exchange for your courage, I'll give you a chance." The executioner's mournful howl echoed over the silent square.

"Yes, a chance"," the Princess repeated, accustomed to her emotionally disturbed executioner (at the end of the day it was quite stressful work for a man).

"I want a gift," The eyes of the Princess looked around trying to find a solution. "I want," the rays of the sun made her squint, and then she came to her decision. "I want the moon!"

"The moon?" The water-bearer repeated in amazement.

"The moon?" The whole square repeated as one.

"That's it," repeated the Princess. "I want the moon to hang in my bedroom instead of a lamp… Delivery time for the gift is unlimited, but if you do not bring it to me, you can say goodbye to your head."

Baby tears of frustration ran down the executioner's rough face. He was the executioner, but not a fool, and had a degree in medicine and phrenology. Or do you really think that the Princess would keep an idiot in her service just because he had a sharp sword on his shoulder?

He knew how clever the Princess had been to arrive at her decision.

The goal had been set, the term was not restricted, but the punishment prescribed had been put off for an indefinite period.

The Sultan, recently poisoned by her personally, rubbed his hands in excitement, which were sticky with Turkish delight in the groves of paradise, and he was surrounded by houris (heavenly virgins). He had taught her everything she knew; she was one smart girl…

"Oh, and one more thing," added the Princess about to leave. "If you bring me the moon, I will make you my husband." Everyone in the square sighed as one, and the water-carrier fell into a swoon.

"Bitch," The dead Sultan began to laugh, shaking paradise, and frightening the timid houris.

From that day on, the young man's life changed completely. Though he was a water carrier, his mind worked perfectly well. He began looking for a way to give the Princess the moon, and as he concentrated on this task, more and more ideas rushed into his head.

The best of these ideas was to become a student of the court astrologer. After all, who was better acquainted with the stars and the moon that he coveted?

The wise Astrologer, dressed in an embroidered brocade robe, closed his bloodshot eyes. He was accustomed to following the birth of universes which decided the fate of the world, and he listened to the young man's story.

For some time he sat motionless, and the guy was thinking that he had fallen asleep, but finally he said: "You are a happy man. You have a goal, and this is a great purpose in life! Some people can live their entire lives without having a purpose, so they are like a boat without oars or sails in a vast stormy ocean. How will fate deal with it? Whether the boat will sink or make it to the beach, no one can tell!"

"If you want to be happy, set a goal that will be most important to you, which will release your full potential and awaken your intentions."

The astrologer smiled, opened his eyes, looked at the young man and, of course, took him on as a student. These days, very few had sought to become sorcerers, because their heads could leave their shoulders quite quickly, if their predictions from the stars did not please their rulers.

Many years passed by, and the young man matured. The teachings of the old astrologer opened his eyes to the laws of the universe. He learned about the structure of the stars and the connection to the human soul. The poetry of the ancient sages awakened his heart, and he began to look at the world in a different way. He became famous, and he was asked for advice. Women would bring their babies to him for his blessing, and the young would come for a wise word. They were seekers of their destiny.

Now the time had come when he was ready to fulfill the desire of the Princess.

A terrible commotion arose in the eastern states, as everyone knew about our characters great knowledge. Everyone prepared for that magnificent silver moon, the patron of lovers, blessed wanderer in the night sky, to leave the vault of heaven forever, and shine only for the Princess, who by this time had become sole ruler.

At full moon, when the moon shone on a round velvet sky embroidered with myriads of stars, our character came from the tower. No one slept; it seemed as if all the people of the earth came out of their houses to see how the moon would be removed from the firmament. The Princess was also there, surrounded by a large retinue, and her executioner who had now grown old. The Sultan, watched on with interest from heaven, surrounded by his houris, waiting for a miracle. Even the ancient genies, invisible to the ordinary eye, sat on the tops of the minarets to watch the interesting event.

Our character left the astrologer's tower wearing an ordinary old robe. Hanging from a short yoke, and swaying to the beat of his steps, were two copper pots. He slowly walked to the Princess. His eyes, filled with wisdom and knowledge, shone like the stars, whose secrets he had learned.

Approaching her, he said: "I'll fulfill your wish. I will give you the moon." A deep silence flowed across the earth. It seemed that even the breeze ceased to move, hiding itself, waited for what would happen next. The whole world came to a standstill!

Without taking his eyes off the Princess, the sage took a simple copper bucket, and took a copper ladle from his belt. He filled it from one of the pots of water, and began pouring the fresh water into the bucket.

He handed the bucket to the Princess: " I give you the moon…, said the wise man quietly.

The Princess took the bucket with both hands and saw that on the transparent surface of the purest water from the icy mountain peaks, the moon shone in all its splendor. The bucket slightly trembled in the hands of the Princess, and the heavenly body showed up dimpled, like light clouds in the summer moonlight.

Nobody heard the heard the laughing and leaping of the evil genies on the tops of the minarets, who were clutching at their ghostly stomachs, watching our sage, who under the creaking sound of the yoke on his shoulders, melted into the night.

In the Eastern markets there is still a legend of a wise water-carrier, who, along with life giving water, brought wisdom, giving him true immortality.