Friend! Now I will tell you a story that my grandparents told me.
This happened at a time when the boundaries of our state of Rio Grande had not yet been defined and it had neither end nor edge, just as there was no owner. The owner became the one who built himself a small ranch on the top of a hill and who, on horseback and with a fast-flying spear in his hands, defended a piece of land that he considered his own.
It was during these times that the story of a mysterious bull named the Chosen One, who was hiding in the caves of Kaaporan at the end of the world, began to spread from village to village - a white man had never set foot there. The bull had golden horns, and, according to the Indians, whoever owned this bull would become the Lord of Happiness.
Of course, there were many hunters - mestizos, Indians, and whites - who went to those parts and scoured the forest in search of the bull of the Chosen One. However, few of them returned home, and those who managed to return told all sorts of terrible stories about that forest, but this further incited the ambition of others. There was even one trickster who managed to lasso the bull, but the bull had strength unknown to anyone, and the strongest lasso could not withstand his jerk. There was even one cunning man who gathered a whole company to surround this bull, but by some magic he disappeared into the caves of Kaaporan. And each time, disappointed people returned, giving up the fight and losing all hope of capturing the golden-horned bull, which the Indians called the bull of Happiness.
One day, rumors about a golden-horned bull reached a very rich landowner. Being already a very old man, he, however, never found happiness in the wealth that he possessed. His evil fate is terrible! - destined him to spend his youth in poverty and doomed his soul to loneliness. The memories - they went further and further - were sad and depressing to him. In his youth, the joy of the hearth was the only joy in his difficult, bitter life, but very early God took from him a wife who loved him dearly, and, as if this misfortune were not enough, death immediately took away his only daughter. In those days, the valleys of the Rio Grande, on which herds of wild animals grazed, were a great temptation for people, and their fame spread throughout the surrounding provinces; Groups of people constantly came there in search of fattened cattle, and this man was in one of these groups. He appeared here not because he was seduced by the glitter of wealth, but because, amid the dangers that await people when driving livestock, he hoped to meet the desired end to his sorrows and suffering. So the years passed. And in the end, as if the end of a difficult struggle with the Indians, with the Spaniards, with predators and wild cattle, his estate appeared, stretching as far as the eye could see, and his countless herds; but in his sad soul nestled bitterness and disappointments, which in the old days Fate had so generously bestowed upon him.
However, having heard stories about the mysterious bull, in whose horns the treasure of Happiness lay, our landowner jumped in spirit: what if the Lord helps him in this last attempt to find joy and peace? and the weak, to console yourself with hope for something that is obviously doomed to failure?
And his tired eyes filled with tears again.
Friend! There are people who think that their fate is in their hands and that the strongest is the one who can easily knock down a bull in a bullfight, who can tame a wild horse in a mad race or defeat an enemy in a fierce fight. But this is not so: the strongest is the one who knows how to use his mind, which God gave him, unlike animals. A person enlightened by the light of God can be calm: he will not go astray even in the dead of night. The Lord was pleased to help our landowner in his last struggle for happiness. The Lord inspired him with what he should do in order to catch the elusive bull: he should not use force, for the bull has a power unknown to people; there is no need to use the lasso, because even the strongest lasso in the entire estate will not withstand its jerk; no, a person must rely on his reason.
The landowner sold his estate, which stretched as far as the eye could see, and his cattle - the best cattle in the area. He joined the shepherds. He bought many slaves. And they all headed towards the valleys of Kaaporan. Having arrived at the place, he first of all took care of housing for the slaves, and he himself, together with the shepherds, went in search of the Chosen One.
And then one day, having cordoned off the place where this magical bull was, they saw him from afar: he was capriciously swaying on the top of the mountain, and his golden horns sparkled in the sun. The shepherds wanted to move forward and narrow the manhunt; many gauchos began to untie the lassos and unwind them. The landowner, however, ordered everyone to dismount, put up a canopy and watch the bull, trying not to scare it away so that it would not run away; then he returned to the slaves' dwelling, without saying a word to the shepherds about what he intended to do.
In the following days, the gauchos had fun under their canopy, dancing and telling different stories. Meanwhile, on the top of the mountain, the regal, rebellious animal still towered; sometimes it went away to graze, but then again took an expectant pose and stood patiently and calmly, although the incomprehensible inaction of the enemy aroused obvious distrust in it.
One fine day a landowner appeared, and the day laborers ran to meet him; they were all pleased that they had done their job well: the bull Chosen One was still standing on the top of the hill, and his silhouette was silhouetted against the sky, which was covered with large white clouds.
Having paid the day laborers, the owner said:
- No more watching the bull with the golden horns. Anyone who wants to return home can leave even today. Many slaves will also leave: I gave them all freedom.
And since no one understood what was happening, he explained:
“In the place where the slaves lived, today stands the large house of my new estate.” And around these mountains I built a strong stone fence that no bull could break through. Now everything here belongs to me: the land, the pasture, the forest, the cattle pen... And the bull of Happiness will also be mine: he won’t be able to leave here...
Friend! A person always becomes what others want him to be. No one in this world is born a villain, but he becomes evil because he encounters the evil that others sow in his path. In the same way, someone who has been surrounded by love since childhood cannot help but become kind: the heart of such a person is filled with generosity. When everyone thinks we are evil, we become evil. When everyone thinks we are kind, we become kind. When everyone looks at us with pity and believes that our life is devoid of the presence of God, we are deeply unhappy. But when everyone, everyone believes that we are the gift of happiness, it makes us happy.
The news spread from village to village that the bull Chosen One had been caught. And thousands of people walked along the roads leading to the valleys of Kaaporan to look at the magical bull with golden horns. Arriving at the place, they saw him from a distance on the top of the hill, and returned back, envying the landowner who became the Lord of Happiness.
And for the first time in his life the landowner was happy, infinitely happy...
After a happy landowner settled in Kaaporan, people began to flock there; At first they came there out of pure curiosity, but then they remained in different corners where the owner was not yet there. They created estates there, paved roads, and opened shops selling goods at crossroads.
The landowner was afraid for the fate of the bull of the Chosen One, because in such a huge mass of people there would certainly be a person who, either out of envy or anger, would try to steal, kill or scare away the bull in whose horns Happiness was stored. Fearing this, the landowner decided that he needed a person to guard his treasure. Our landowner had no relatives, and if there was anyone in his native land, he knew nothing about it; Therefore, he decided to announce to his district that he would leave his estate and his wealth as an inheritance to the one who would conscientiously take care of the golden-horned bull.
Crowds of people flocked to the landowner!
But not a single gaucho agreed to conclude this agreement, because the landowner demanded that the person who wanted to pass three tests, and no one could emerge victorious from such tests. The tests were as follows:
The Indian had to show himself to be brave: for this he had to play in the primeiro sanga. Primeiro-sangue, that is, “first blood,” is a sport that was once common on the Rio Grande and was a duel with edged weapons; the winner was the one who first bled the enemy; So, the Indian had to play in a primeiro sanga with three opponents without receiving a scratch; the Indian had to show himself to be a good rider: to do this, he had to tame three horses within a week that no one had yet been able to tame; he should not have been able to lie.
If any young man had emerged victorious from these three trials, the landowner would have been able to breathe freely. For this young man, being a brave man, would be able to resist the villains who would sneak into the valley where the Chosen One lived. Being a good rider, he could cope with the animal and not let it go beyond the winter pasture. Finally, if he always spoke only the truth, he would not deceive his owner if one fine day the bull ran away, died or disappeared, taking with him the Happiness that is obtained with such difficulty.
One day, on a tired horse, a gaucho arrived at the estate, young - just a teenager - and handsome, but very poorly dressed. This young Indian came here to pass three tests, but everyone just shrugged their shoulders, because his horse was useless, and his harness was no good; the boy, however, stood his ground and insisted that he had come from afar, having killed his only horse, only to pass three tests. Finally, the landowner ordered him to dismount and called three warlike guys who had become famous in the primeiro sanga.
In the shade of the umbu trees, all the youth of the estate gathered and surrounded the participants of the primeiro-sangue in order to be able to referee the game. Three heroes stood on one side: a shaggy Spaniard in a gaucho costume with a short, silver-plated sword; a Creole with a brutal face, who had a large knife with a jagged end, and a one-eyed Indian from the Sharrua tribe, armed with a sharp curved knife - this knife famously ripped open the enemy’s stomach. And four steps away from them stood a young Indian quite calmly; He wrapped his left hand in his old patched poncho, and in his right hand he held a knife two spans long.
There was something to see when the owner ordered the game to begin! The young Indian made a leap that neither a cat nor a horse would have made, crossed his knife with the Creole's knife and cut it, then jumped back and, maintaining his usual composure, took up his previous position. The Sharrua Indian and the Spaniard, overcome with horror, had never seen such ease! — they didn’t even have time to get into position and were only thinking about how the enemy wouldn’t prevent them from moving freely. But with such an enemy as this villainous Indian, it was not so easy to move carefully and prudently. As for the Creole, a red stripe appeared on his right hand - first blood! - and all he had to do was leave the battlefield and join the judges.
No one will believe the story of further events! The shaggy Spaniard and the Sharrua Indian parted to attack the young man from both sides, and, at a sign from one of them, rushed at him; at that very moment a frantic fight ensued. The truth is that a short time later, Sharrua was wounded in the forehead, and blood flowed profusely from the wound. The Spaniard made a lunge, but, attacking the stranger, he became confused and was booed. The youth almost strangled the young Indian in their arms - this funny fellow aroused unanimous delight among all those present. And even the old owner himself, who had kept aloof all the time, with a wide smile approached the young man, who had emerged victorious from the fight and had not received a single scratch, and heartily shook his hand. And the young Indian deserved that handshake! But the young man still kept his cool, looking around... And then the day of the next test came!
A herd of wild horses was driven from a distant valley. Three stallions were separated from the herd, which could be called four-legged devils: there was no Indian yet who could stay on the back of these demons. There was one among them, a bay with a white star on his forehead; he had such a vicious temper that he kicked constantly! And even if there was a daredevil who would decide to approach him, he could already invite friends to his funeral in advance!
“These are the same wild horses, young man...” said the owner, almost sure that the Indian would have a hard time in the mad race.
But the young Indian, just as calm, only asked:
-Who will be my assistant?
The shaggy Spaniard, a brave and resilient fellow, who last night had presented the young man with a bottle of cane vodka as a prize, volunteered first.
And the fun began!
I won't be able to describe it to you, friend! It will be best if I tell you briefly: by the end of the week the young man had broken the tenacity of three rebellious stallions! And the satisfied owner gave him a bay with a white star on his forehead - a handsome man who had no equal!..
That same evening the landowner ordered the young Indian to be called to his place and said to him:
“You have proven that a rare person can fight with you and that as a rider you have no equal.” Now you would have to pass the last and most difficult test. But I’ll just ask you—I want to take your word for it—are you capable of lying?
“I swear to you, master,” answered the young man, “I swear to you by the light that I see, that I have never deceived a single person in my life.” I could never lie.
- Well, great! From now on you will be a guard at Invernada do Fundo; I entrust you with my possessions, and with them the bull of the Chosen One. My happiness depends on whether he is alive, and therefore, while I am alive, you will have to guard his life and make sure that he does not leave Invernada. You can build yourself a house anywhere and take as many heads of cattle as you want, for if our agreement comes into force, the land and cattle will belong to you for a whole day.
- Okay, master.
- You can go. But I want you to come here every day at sunset, under the canopy, and talk about what is happening in Invernada do Fundo, and whether the bull Chosen One is alive. This way I will know that Happiness is still with me...
The very next day, when the sun touched the horizon, the clatter of hooves was heard in the valley, and soon the new guard stopped his bay with a white star on his forehead in front of the canopy where his owner was waiting. The young Indian respectfully took off his hat and greeted the owner with these words:
The sun is already setting,
I bow to you at this moment,
No news yet
The magic bull is alive and well.
Having said this, he immediately jumped on his horse, lightly spurred it and galloped off to where his worries were waiting.
It was like this every day. Before sunset, the young man quickly rode up to the shed, stopped his horse and, before galloping off again, said to the owner:
The sun is already setting,
I bow to you at this moment,
No news yet
The magic bull is alive and well.
And time flowed and flowed, weaving its endless thread. The feeling of happiness did not leave the landowner, although he was sinking lower and lower under the weight of the years he had lived. He noticed that his life was slowly disappearing, but every hour and every minute he lived in bliss and peace.
And in order for his happiness to reach its limit, something completely unexpected happened. For the landowner, who had long ago lost his wife and daughter and was left alone in this world, was visited by four nephews whom he had never even remembered: a city guy, elegant and well-mannered, and his sisters, three such charming girls that young people, as soon as they saw them, lost their heads. They came from afar - from the very regions from which a certain young man, overcome with grief, had left many years ago - they voluntarily set off on a difficult journey through the sertans to see their uncle, who, as they knew, lived alone among the fields. After a long journey, they gathered under a canopy, telling their uncle in detail about almost forgotten relatives, narrating various incidents and decorating the conversation with melodious young laughter, which the old man had not heard for a long time. Even his memories of sorrowful events now flew to him like greetings from the past, without bitterness and without sadness. The enchanted old man asked, almost begged the youth to live with him and sweeten the last days of his life with affection. When his nephews accepted his invitation, the old man, unable to restrain his feelings, burst into tears of joy and tenderly kissed the dark cheek of the youngest of his nieces, and his withered, trembling hands gratefully felt the sweetness of the caress.
In a fit of tenderness, the old landowner did not pay attention to the Indian, who galloped towards the house. He noticed the rider only when he stopped his horse and said:
The sun is already setting,
I bow to you at this moment,
No news yet
Alive and well. Magic Bull.
Friend! Have you ever seen vultures surrounding a dying animal? Here one of them impatiently jumps nearby and, no longer restraining its predatory instincts, rushes at a weak and defenseless victim and pecks out its eyes, thus inviting its fellows to a bloody feast. The city guy turned out to be such an impatient vulture, and his uncle was the victim. As soon as he arrived at the estancia (Estancia is a cattle-breeding landowner's estate.), he was already relentlessly following the old man, flattering him, like an obsequious Indian woman sitting on the lap of a rich cattle driver. The young man, whose head was full of evil thoughts and whose black soul was poisoned by evil feelings, did everything in his power to become the heir to the vast lands and thousands of head of cattle of the estancia bull of the Chosen One. That's why he didn't leave here; Therefore, he was not afraid of this remote sertan, where dangers awaited a person at every step. And if not for the story of the bull Chosen One, which went around the whole world, glorifying the name of the happy landowner, how could he have convinced his sisters to embark on this dangerous journey with him?
The elder sister, a woman who lived in big cities and was familiar with all the tricks, understood her brother’s intentions from the very beginning. Her body was beautiful, but her heart was evil. It was very easy for her to please her uncle; It didn’t cost her anything to be affectionate with him for the sake of money...
Middle sister... perhaps there was not such a charming woman in the whole world!.. How many men quarreled over her - in their hearts she lit the flame of love - and how many fell into despair, because she did not give her body or her love to anyone! And now she was here and - though without malicious intent - she charmed everyone with her warm hands, her snow-white chest, which heaved as if she did not have enough air, not enough life; she kindled the flame of love in souls and aroused already extinguished feelings. Sinful hands, chest full of extravagant desires...
Friend! You, of course, have been hunting more than once or tamed an unbroken horse; you have galloped along rocky mountain slopes that serve as a refuge for wild beasts. These slopes are cluttered with black sharp stones, and grass does not grow there, only thorny bushes grow there. But a person who looks carefully around, in some cleft hidden from view, will see, as if a symbol of the presence of God, in a place where everything seems to be the work of the devil, a small cactus - the most charming flower of all the flowers planted by nature. I am speaking now of the most beautiful and youngest of the three girls, who, if possible, was the fairest of the sisters. People saw all the best that is in the soul of a Christian in this dark-skinned Brazilian woman, who was so different from her scoundrel brother and who sincerely fell in love with her old uncle, who had suffered from misfortunes all his life and was deprived of support. It seemed that Happiness wanted to give the landowner in the last days of his life incomparable joy in the form of a gentle and innocent girl.
I will now tell my story about my brother and sisters.
One evening it happened that while uncle and nephew were sitting under the canopy and talking, the guard of the estancia galloped up, as usual, and brought news of the magic bull:
The sun is already setting,
I bow to you at this moment,
No news yet
The magic bull is alive and well.
Seeing him from afar, the angry young man turned to his uncle and asked:
- Uncle! Is it true that you promised to leave your possessions as an inheritance to this guardian?
- Yes, my son... I didn’t know then about the existence of my relatives, and I had no one to leave my house, cattle, estancia to. If I had known that I had nephews who would be so kind to me, I certainly would not have given my possessions to a stranger. And now it’s too late: I gave my word to this young man.
“Why,” the villain continued, “did you choose him?”
“Because there is neither such a brave man nor such a rider here as this young Indian.” And also because he doesn't know how to lie...
“So I believed that he doesn’t know how to lie!” — the villain laughed mockingly. “Oh, uncle!” There is not a person in the whole world who is not a liar!..
The old man seemed to understand what he was driving at, and fixed a steady, questioning gaze on him. And the young man continued:
“I know for sure that he did not pass the test of truth, the most difficult test.” You took him at his word... and he may turn out to be just as deceitful as any other person.
For several minutes, uncle and nephew looked at each other in silence. And even if the old man wanted to speak, he could not, for at that moment he thought about what he had done to the young Indian, and the voice of reason silenced the other voice and froze. “Did I trust weak human nature too much?” the landowner asked himself, and his heart sank. “Did the young Indian cruelly betray the trust placed in him? What if it was a mistake to give the estancia, lands and cattle to a stranger, who, perhaps, would later use all these riches as a veil covering evil and crime? Did I do the right thing in trusting a man who only knows how to tame stallions and play famously at Primeiro-sange?.. My God! Perhaps the right hand of the Lord brought my forgotten relatives to my house so that they could correct my mistake and make amends for the injustice?”
The silence became painful. The young man, unable to bear it any longer, decided to take a risk and asked his uncle:
- Well, what if... if he lied?..
And the old man, understanding his thought, finished the sentence:
-...then the heir is you!
That same evening, the young man called his older sister, the same one who was affectionate with the old man for the sake of money, and ordered her:
- Get on your horse and ride into the valley. Call to the aid of all your cunning and seduction of the shepherd who is guarding the bull of the Chosen One. Tell him that, as a reward for your kisses and caresses, he will kill a magic bull and give you golden horns, which contain Happiness. He knows that the owner is already old and that he will never go into the valley to see the golden-horned bull with his own eyes; Thus, he will succumb to temptation and tomorrow, as always, he will come and say that the bull Chosen One is alive and well. For this lie he will lose his inheritance, and we will become rich!
To make the temptation stronger, the girl sprinkled her hair with fragrant water, filled with the aroma of sin.
- Now go!
At sunrise the fugitive returned. There was sadness and disappointment in her eyes.
“I found a young Indian next to the bull Chosen One. All the charm of the body and eyes led to nothing: he did not pay attention to me,” she said.
The next night, the angry young man spoke about the inheritance with his middle sister, whose chest, lacking air and life, heaved violently. Poisoned by the poison of vanity, she willingly set out on the road to give to a man for the first time in her life the heat of her body, over which so many men had quarreled; however, the sacrifice would not be so difficult for her if she received the golden horns of Happiness as a reward. She returned at sunrise.
“I found a young Indian next to the bull Chosen One. All the charm of the body and eyes led to nothing; he didn't pay attention to me.
Then the evil young man called his younger sister to him - a pure cactus flower among the stones of sin. And since the girl cried bitterly, bitterly, begging her soulless brother not to force her to stain her soul and body with shame, the villain grabbed a whip and whipped the poor thing until she bled.
- Blood for blood! You're already covered in blood. Now go and bring me wealth at the cost of blood!
And the girl set off; The light of her pure soul served as her guiding star in this terrible night.
At sunrise she returned to the estancia. She didn't cry anymore. Her slender body bent towards the ground; she could barely stand on her feet, which carried her for many hours in the pitch-black night. Pale and beautiful - more beautiful than ever before, she humbly fell at her brother's feet. And she handed him the golden horns of Happiness, still stained with warm blood...
Friend! When the day began to fade into evening, the happy landowner, as always, was waiting for the arrival of the young Indian. With him was an angry young man, whose eyes shone with a victorious brilliance: the guard would lie, and the estancia would belong to him!
Suddenly the clatter of hooves was heard in the distance. The angry young man stood up and, as if someone had pushed him, took two steps forward and froze in place; his heart beat feverishly; he became a rumor, waiting for what the young Indian would say. It began to rain, and when the bay horse stopped, two furrows were imprinted on the wet ground. And the young Indian said:
The sun is already setting,
I bow to you at this moment,
And I ask, sir, forgiveness:
I killed the magic bull.
The next day, along the roads of Kaaporan, the evil young man and his sisters went forever to the lands from which they came. But he was accompanied by only two sisters: the younger one chose to stay with her uncle and began to live in a new village that arose in the place where the bull Chosen One grazed. The happiness that filled the landowner’s soul and was contained in Illusion left him with the death of the bull Chosen One. But another happiness, genuine and lasting, illuminated by the peace of a clear conscience, came to him at the end of his life.
And as the air began to leave his old, worn-out lungs, he had enough strength to join the hands of two beings who sincerely revered him:
...the gentle hand of a dark Brazilian woman, this pure flower among the stones of sin...
...and the calloused hand of the young Indian who defeated three daredevils in the primeiro sanga and who tamed the three most stubborn stallions in the whole area; the same hand that on a black night sacrificed a magic bull not to sin, but to love - a bull that thousands of people saw from afar against the backdrop of white clouds.
The old landowner's eyes closed. But when he brought them together for good, he saw something unusual; this object illuminated the walls of the large estancia village house. Those were the golden horns, forgotten in the corner, but still shining with magical power that light that makes people feel that life is a gift of Happiness...
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru