In ancient times, a husband and wife lived in the same fishing village. They lived together, but the only problem was that they had no children. Every day the wife went to the temple to pray to the gods, she kept asking them: “Send us at least some child for joy!”
Finally, the gods took pity. A girl was born to my wife and husband. She was kind and beautiful, but her father and mother began to notice that the hair on her head was not growing at all. The parents began to panic: “Why did we anger the gods so much? Why didn’t they spare our long-awaited daughter?” Well, there's nothing to do. Whatever child you have, it’s your own.
Meanwhile, amazing things began to happen in that village. Fishermen noticed that every day at the same hour a bright light appears in the sea. It will burn and burn, and then go out, as if some unknown force is giving a sign.
The fishermen really wanted to find out who was hiding in the depths of the sea, but they were afraid to go to sea. And the girl’s parents marveled together with everyone, they wanted to understand where that amazing light was coming from.
Here they are sitting at home one evening. Suddenly the wife says: “What if this light is intended for you and me?” Maybe the gods are giving us a sign, and this wonderful shine will save our daughter from her misfortune?
“Maybe so,” the husband agreed. “We need to go to sea ourselves.” That’s what they did. The next day, the husband and wife got into a boat and sailed to the place where the light appeared.
They swam for a long time, and it was already getting dark. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bright light splashed into their faces, the husband and wife closed their eyes so as not to go blind. We got used to it a little, opened our eyes, looked around - what beauty! The sea sparkles so much!
- What kind of miracles? — the husband and wife were surprised. - Magic, and that’s all! They took a closer look, and they saw that light was pouring from the very bottom of the sea. The husband and wife became scared - is there something hidden in the abyss of the sea? They thought and thought about what to do next, and finally the wife said:
- I’ll go down to the bottom. We need to see what's down there. Maybe I’ll find a way out of my daughter’s troubles. A woman dived into the sea, sank to the bottom, and saw a small statue of the goddess Kannon lying on the sand.
- This is necessary! - the wife was surprised. - Such a small statue, but it emits such a bright light!
She lifted the statue from the bottom, wanted to float up, but didn’t have time... Everything around darkened, a black shadow covered the poor woman - a huge stingray appeared from nowhere.
And the husband upstairs, out of excitement, finds no place for himself: “I couldn’t let my wife go to the bottom of the sea alone,” he thinks. He took the sword and went down to the bottom himself. He looks and sees a monster hovering around his wife, and she is fighting back with all her might.
- Let go of my wife! - the husband shouted. “You’d better tear me to pieces!” The stingray heard a human voice, turned around and rushed at the husband. “Hurry up to the top,” the husband managed to shout to his wife. He struggled with the stingray for a long time, finally stabbed the monster in the belly with a sword, and sank it on the seabed. The husband gathered his last strength, climbed ashore, but as soon as he fell on the sand, his soul left him.
And the fishermen picked up his wife at sea, barely alive. They brought her to the shore and looked - she was holding in her hand a statue of the goddess Kannon.
-Where did you get it? - they ask. “Is it really on the seabed?” And the woman, barely audible to them, answers: “I’m dying, obviously.” Give this statue to my daughter. May the goddess Kannon protect her.
She said so, sighed and died. The fishermen buried their husband and wife near the sea, and nearby they built an idol and placed a statue of the goddess Kannon there.
Life in the village continued as before. But the girl was left an orphan - there was no one to console, no one to caress. Every day in the morning she came to the grave of her parents to pray to the goddess Kannon.
And then one day the girl had a strange dream. She dreams that the goddess Kannon herself entered her house, stood at the head of her head and said:
“I feel sorry for your deceased parents and I feel sorry for you.” Let that be fulfilled for which they did not regret their lives.
She said so and disappeared. The girl woke up, looked around - she couldn’t understand whether it was a dream or not. She looked in the mirror, but couldn’t believe her eyes: overnight her hair grew of unprecedented beauty, right down to her toes!
She jumped out of the house and ran to the shore - to the grave of her parents. “Thank you for saving me from trouble,” she says. She turned to the statue of the goddess Kannon - she wanted to bow, and suddenly it seemed to the girl that the statue smiled at her and nodded her head.
Many years have passed since then. The girl grew up and became a beautiful woman. People came from far and wide to see her beauty.
Every day the girl combed her wonderful hair. But she didn’t throw away the hairs that remained on the comb - there was no price for them, because they were sent by the goddess Kannon herself! So the beauty hung them on the branches of plum trees.
It so happened that far, far from that fishing village, a noble prince once went out for a walk in his palace garden. He sees a hair hanging on a tree. The prince was surprised:
-Where did he come from? Maybe the sparrows brought it? The prince took a hair from the branch, and then exclaimed: “What a miracle!” Do earthly women have such beautiful hair?! No way this is a hair from the head of a heavenly fairy!
“A girl with such hair must be extraordinarily beautiful,” the prince thought, and love for the unknown beauty flared up in his heart.
He sent servants to all corners of his domain to look for the owner of this beautiful hair. The servants searched for a long time and finally found a poor girl from a fishing village. They brought her to the princely palace.
The prince and the girl met and immediately fell in love with each other. The beauty became the prince's wife, and she had a son with the same wonderful hair. She lived happily ever after, but never forgot about her parents and the gift of the goddess Kannon.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru