Once upon a time there was a city consisting of two parallel streets. One day a dervish crossed from one street to another, and the residents of this second street noticed that his eyes were full of tears.
- Someone died on the next street! - one of them shouted, and all the children playing nearby immediately started screaming.
In fact, the dervish was crying because he had been peeling an onion shortly before. But the scream grew and was soon heard on the next street. The residents of both streets were so saddened and frightened, imagining that their neighbors were in misfortune, that they did not even dare to ask each other about the cause of the commotion. True, one wise man, trying to calm them down, advised both of them to ask each other what had happened, but too excited to heed his advice, they answered:
“We already know everything: our neighbors suffered a great misfortune.”
This news spread with supernatural speed, and soon not a single resident of each street doubted that their neighbors were in trouble. Having gathered their thoughts, both of them decided to immediately leave these places in order to thus save their lives. And so both communities left their homes and headed in opposite directions.
Centuries have passed since then; that city is still deserted. Not far from each other, on both sides of it, there were two villages. From generation to generation, residents of both villages pass on a legend about how the population once fled from a doomed city, fleeing an unknown disaster.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru