In ancient times, I don’t even remember which emperor ruled the Celestial Empire at that time, there lived a strong, intelligent and handsome young man nicknamed Zhu Tzu. He had long since turned twenty and was still not married. Zhu Tzu never complained about his lonely life, although he was often overcome by sadness. One day his mother says to him:
- Oh, son, you and I already live in need and poverty. So this year we were also robbed by imperial officials. They took away everything that was born on a piece of our skinny land. Who will marry you if we cannot feed ourselves?
More than three months have passed. The New Year is coming soon. It would be nice, the mother thinks, to enjoy dumplings on the holiday. Otherwise, he and his son don’t eat anything, just bran and bitter grass. But there is no white flour in the house for dumplings, where can the poor get it from? It’s good that there’s about half a measure of gaoliang left! But you can’t make dumplings from flour alone, you need filling, and vegetables are expensive. I'll have to buy one radish.
The mother called her son and said:
“We have ten coins left, son, take them, go to the market and buy radishes.” I'll make dumplings.
Zhu Tzu took the money and went to the market. As soon as he reached the vegetable row, he suddenly saw an old man standing there, selling old paintings. One painting shows a girl of such beauty that it is impossible to describe. The young man fell in love and couldn’t take his eyes off it. I looked and looked and fell in love. Zhu Tzu did not hesitate, gave the last ten coins to the old man, took the painting and went home.
The mother saw that her son had brought a picture instead of a radish, sighed and thought: “Apparently we won’t have to eat dumplings,” but she herself remains silent and won’t say a word to her son.
Zhu Tzu took the painting to his room and went to look for work. He returned home in the evening, lit a candle, and suddenly heard something rustling: hua-la-la. What is this? The wind couldn't get into the house. The young man raised his head and looked - the picture on the wall seemed to be swaying. Did it swing one way, then the other? What a miracle? The beauty left the picture and sat down next to Zhu Tzu. The young man is happy, but he is afraid. Then the maiden smiled and spoke, and all the fear in the young man disappeared. They conduct a conversation among themselves, and their love flares up more and more hotly. They didn’t notice how the night passed. But as soon as the rooster crowed, the girl returned to the picture. The young man can't wait for the evening - will the beauty from the picture leave or not? Evening came, and the beauty came to the young man again.
This went on for about a month. But then one day the maiden left the picture sad, with her head bowed. Zhu Tzu began to ask what made her sad. The girl sighed and said:
“I fell in love with you, and I can’t bear to watch you work from morning to night, but still live in poverty.” I want to help you, but I’m just afraid of bringing trouble to your house.
Here the young man exclaimed passionately:
“As soon as I remember that I will see you in the evening, my heart becomes so joyful that I am not afraid of either poverty or hunger.”
The girl didn’t let him finish and asked:
“Is it fair that you live in such bitter need?” Here's twenty coins for you, tomorrow go to the market and buy some silk thread. Just be careful that no one finds out about me.
Zhu Tzu did everything as the beauty told him. And in the evening she came out of the picture and said:
- Go to bed, and I’ll work.
The first rooster crowed. It's dawn. Zhu-tzu opened his eyes and closed his eyes: the whole room was sparkling with silk and satin—the beauty had woven them overnight. The young man looked at them, looked as if spellbound, then rushed to his mother. I saw my mother, froze, and couldn’t believe my eyes. Then her son told her everything in order: how every evening the maiden from the picture came down to him, how they fell in love with each other, how she gave him twenty coins and told him to buy some silk threads, how he finally went to bed, and in the morning he woke up and saw: the whole room was sparkling with silk and satin.
The mother heard, she was happy, but she herself was afraid: after all, it was all for a reason. She thought so, but did not say anything to her son. Zhu Tzu took the silks and satins to the market and returned home with a whole lot of money. From then on, mother and son lived in contentment.
But then one morning, when Zhu Tzu went into the field and his mother was busy with housework, a Taoist monk appeared, collecting alms from the villages. He looked at the old woman, screamed in fear and said:
“I see a sign of magic on your face.”
The woman then remembered what her son had told her about the magical picture and trembled with fear.
And the monk says again:
“If you don’t want grief and death to come to your house, give me the painting immediately.” There is a beauty drawn there, she weaves silk and satin for you.
When the woman heard that the monk knew everything about the picture, she became even more frightened. She rushed into the room, tore the picture off the wall, rolled it up and was already heading towards the exit, but then she heard a heavy sigh. This beauty sighed and said, almost crying:
- Tell your son that I am in distant lands. If he loves me, let him go to this country. I will wait for Zhu Tzu all my life until I get it.
The poor mother did not answer. She hurried to the gate, gave the monk the painting, but did not say anything to her son: it would be better for Zhu Tzu to forget his beauty.
The young man returned home from the field and saw that there was no picture with a beautiful maiden on the wall, only one carnation remained. He rushed to his mother. And she told her son about the Taoist monk who predicted grief and disaster for them if she did not give him the paintings. Needless to say, how twisted the young man was. He lay down on the can, lay there until the morning, he wanted to get up, but he couldn’t - a serious illness overcame him. What kind of healers did my mother call for! What kind of medicines did she give her son? It's all in vain. Day by day the young man grew weaker, and his mother saw that death was very close. She sat down with her son on the canal, began to cry and said:
- Zhu-tzu, Zhu-tzu, my only son, I have never done anything against your will. Let it be as you want. I see you are dying of love.
Her son answers:
- I won’t deceive you. If only I could look at her once, all my illness would go away in an instant.
Zhu Tzu said this, and tears began to fall from his eyes.
His mother tells him:
“Eh, Zhu Tzu, I myself now understand that I shouldn’t have given the painting to the monk.” Now listen to what I tell you. I then took the picture off the wall, rolled it up and went to give it to the Taoist, suddenly I heard as if someone was sighing heavily, and then the maiden, almost crying, said to me: “Tell your son that I am in distant lands. If he loves me, let him go to this country. I will wait for Zhu Tzu all my life until I get it.” I didn’t want to tell you about it, I thought you would forget her, but apparently that won’t happen. But no one knows where this country of Xiyu is, and you are sick now.
But hope was already burning in Zhu Tzu’s heart. Every day he got better and better.
And then one day the mother put all the money they earned from selling silks and satins into a canvas bag. Zhu Tzu led his horse outside the gate, jumped on it, took the bag of money, waved goodbye to his mother and galloped off to the west.
It’s hard to say how many or how many days have passed, but Zhu Tzu spent all the money that was in the linen bag: he even sold his horse long ago, so that he could pay for food and lodging for the night, but he still couldn’t see or see this country. Zhu-tzu had to hire a day job. He earned some money and went on the road again.
The young man walked for many days. He gets tired, remembers about the maiden and walks again, as if he had more strength. The young man came across villages less and less often; he often had to spend the night in the field.
One day he didn’t come across a single village all day. There was not a drop of water in his mouth, not a single grain of rice. And again we had to spend the night in the open air. He woke up the next morning and suddenly saw a small ravine nearby. Zhu-tzu was delighted, ran to the ravine, looked - there was no water there, the stream had long since dried up. The young man walked along the ravine and suddenly noticed a small hole, in the hole there was water. The young man went downstairs, squatted down and was just about to get drunk, when suddenly, out of nowhere, a small black fish appeared. Zhu Tzu looked at her and said:
- Fish, fish! If I drink this water, you won’t live even an hour; if I don’t drink it, I’ll die of thirst. But in two days, you will still die, because this water will dry up. What should I do?
The young man thought and thought and came up with an idea. He took a handkerchief, moistened it with water, wrapped the fish that remained at the bottom in it, drank it and moved on.
Whether he walked a lot or not, I don’t know, but the sun had already begun to set to the west. Suddenly he sees Zhu-tzu - the river in front of him is wide, flowing from north to south. The depths are such that no matter how hard you look, you cannot see the bottom. Zhu Tzu became sad, sat down on the shore, and did not know what to do. Suddenly he remembered the fish and said:
“I don’t know what I’ll do myself, but you, fish, swim to your health!”
The young man said so and released the fish into the wild. The fish only flashed its scales in the sun and immediately disappeared. The young man looked to the right, looked to the left: there was no end to the river, as if it was flowing into the sky. And the boat is nowhere to be seen. How to get to the other side? Will he never see his beloved again? The young man lowered his head and walked away.
He walks and walks and suddenly hears someone calling out to him:
- Zhu Tzu!
I looked around - there was no one. It seemed like it, right, the young man thinks, who could be calling him by name here?
And suddenly he hears again:
- Zhu-tzu, Zhu-tzu, wait!
Zhu Tzu looked around and this time saw a tall young man dressed in black.
The young man asks:
- Do you want to cross to the other side?
Zhu Tzu answers:
- I want to, but I don’t know how.
The young man tells him:
“I can help your trouble, I’ll build a bridge in an instant.”
The young man said this, broke off a willow twig, and threw it into the river. At the same moment the twig turned into a narrow bridge. Zhu Tzu was so happy that he forgot to thank the young man, ran across the bridge, and when he stepped onto the shore and looked back, neither the bridge nor the young man was there. Only a small black fish splashed happily in the water.
Zhu Tzu went further. He climbed the mountain and looked - below, in the valley, there was a small village. On its northern edge, a two-story house rises, and an old Taoist monk stands at the gate. Zhu Tzu saw that the sun was already very low, and decided to ask for a place to stay for the night. The old Taoist frowned for a long time, forcibly agreed to let the young man into the house, and took him to the right wing. They came into the room, and there the walls were covered with colored paper. There is a bed and a small table.
Monk says:
- Go to bed, just make sure you don’t touch anything.
He said so and left.
Chu Tzu lay down and thought: “What is there to touch here when there is nothing in the room.” He thought and thought, and anxiety overcame him. The young man is tossing and turning from side to side, unable to fall asleep. Suddenly I accidentally touched the wall with my hand. The young man’s heart sank. What is this? Under the paper there was a small door. The young man tore off the paper from this place, and a lunar path ran across the room. Zhu-tzu opened the door slightly, looked at the garden, in the garden a path leads straight to the gazebo, a light glows in the gazebo. Suddenly a woman came out of the gazebo. Zhu Tzu immediately slammed the door, but in the silvery light of the moon he managed to see her face. This was his beauty, the one who came down to him every evening from the picture, his beloved, whom he had been looking for for so long. The young man opened the door again and shouted:
- Is it really you?
The woman made a sign for him to remain silent, then came up and quietly said:
- So you have come to this country. I knew you would find me. Now let's run away from here. I stole a magic sword from the old Taoist and will kill him if he chases us.
The woman said this, tore off the hem of her robe, laid it on the floor and ordered Zhu Tzu to stand on it next to her. As soon as he stood up, the floor turned into a cloud and began to rise upward, into the very sky. Zhu Tzu flies on a cloud - as if he is being carried in a palanquin.
Suddenly the beauty leaned towards him and said:
“The old monk still chased after us, but don’t be afraid, close your eyes and don’t look back until I tell you.” I can handle it alone.
The beauty said so and pulled out a magic sword. At the same moment thunder struck, the wind whistled, and the rain began to roar. A terrible scream shook everything around. After that there was silence. The woman here ordered Zhu Tzu to open his eyes. The young man looks - he and the beauty are standing on solid ground. And at their feet lies a headless werewolf.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru