In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, a bird catcher lived with his wife. Life was hard for them on earth; More than once hunger forced them to mourn their bitter fate. Sometimes the husband went away for a while to foreign countries, caught birds there, sold them for an insignificant price and thereby supported his existence. His wife worked for rich people and with her labor earned only bread. And now she had to experience an even stronger blow of fate; her husband, with whom she shared both joy and sorrow, suddenly died.
The poor widow became the subject of universal pity. In addition, at this time she was pregnant and could not work as before. When her son was born, she had to take care not only of herself, but also of her little son. They named him Ibrahim.
And time passed; Years passed by, and Ibrahim was twelve years old. He could not look indifferently at his mother, exhausted and emaciated from constant work and care.
“Mom,” he once asked her, “do I have a father?” If there is a father, where is he and what does he do?
“You had a father,” answered the mother, “but he died.” He was engaged in birding and left behind a net and a pipe, with the help of which he caught birds.
“Where is this inheritance?” asked the boy.
“There, it’s lying in the chest, unused,” the mother answered and pointed to the chest.
Ibrahim eagerly rushed to the chest, took out his father’s unenviable inheritance and began to look at it. Then he decided to follow his father and practice his craft.
One day Ibrahim told his mother that he intended to go catch birds and asked her to prepare travel supplies for him. The mother was surprised by her son's unexpected intention and asked where he was going? Ibrahim told his mother that he intended to wander until God took pity on him and sent him his grace. This greatly touched the unfortunate mother, and with tears in her eyes she began to prepare her son for the journey. She borrowed some money from a rich man with an obligation to work for him for six months. With this money, the unfortunate mother bought her son bread and cheese for the trip.
One day, early in the morning, our Ibrahim said goodbye to his mother and hit the road. He walked day and night, and on the third day he found himself at the edge of an unfamiliar forest. Here Ibrahim built himself a hut to live in it for a very short time; As soon as he laid out the net and began to blow the pipe, an extraordinary bird appeared. Each feather had a special color.
When it appeared, Ibrahim could not stop admiring it, and his joy was great when this bird suddenly fell into the net. Ibrahim quickly grabbed it along with the net and, without thinking twice, returned home to share his joy with his mother.
Ibrahim's mother was extremely happy at the return of her son with such a happy booty. She was sure that anyone would willingly pay for this bird, but Ibrahim did not even think of selling it: he put it in a cage and began to admire its beauty.
After some time, the bird laid an egg. The poor family was delighted when they saw that the egg was as extraordinarily beautiful and colorful as the bird itself. Ibrahim's mother took the egg and went to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper gave her some money for the egg and promised to pay her twice as much if she brought him another egg. She returned home very satisfied.
The shopkeeper took this egg and went to the city to bring this egg as a gift to the Shah. The Shah was delighted with such a gift and generously rewarded the shopkeeper.
As soon as the shopkeeper returned home, Ibrahim's mother brought him two more eggs. The shopkeeper again took them to the Shah. The Shah allowed him to take as much money from the Shah's treasury as he could. The shopkeeper, of course, hastened to take advantage of the Shah’s permission.
Thus, in a very short time, the shopkeeper became one of the richest men in the city. Ibrahim’s mother, having learned about the reason for his rapid enrichment, stopped selling eggs to him, although he offered her a lot of money for each egg.
Once Ibrahim took several of these eggs and went to the Shah himself. The Shah rewarded Ibrahim even better than the shopkeeper: he was allowed to take as much money as he wanted from the Shah's treasury.
Having learned that Ibrahim had gone to the Shah, the shopkeeper also followed him. On the way, he met Ibrahim, who was returning from the Shah, and began to ask him to give him a certain amount of money received, but Ibrahim refused. He was greatly offended and vowed to take revenge on him.
After this, Ibrahim went to the Shah several times with gifts and each time received generous rewards from him.
Meanwhile, the shopkeeper began to think about how to deprive Ibrahim of his enviable wealth.
One morning the shopkeeper went to the Shah and said to him:
- Your Majesty! Do not accept any more eggs from Ibrahim, but rather demand from him that strange bird that lays such wonderful eggs. She deserves a Shah, not some village boy.
The Shah thought for a moment and agreed with the shopkeeper's opinion.
The next day, Ibrahim again came to the Shah with eggs. The Shah, as usual, rewarded him and ordered him to bring • the next day a bird that lays such wonderful eggs. The Shah's proposal seemed too heavy to Ibrahim.
Saddened, he returned home and told his mother about the order of the Shah. It was a great misfortune for them to lose this bird, although they knew that the Shah would reward them very generously for this.
Mother and son thought for a long time, but did not come to any conclusion. But one way or another, they had to fulfill the order of the Shah and give him the bird.
The next day, Ibrahim and the bird went to the Shah. At the sight of the bird, the Shah was amazed. He allowed Ibrahim to take as much gold as he wanted from the treasury.
Since then, Ibrahim has become a prominent rich man. The shopkeeper was especially jealous of him, so much so that he even made an attempt on his life. In addition, Ibrahim became one of the Shah's close associates and visited him every day.
This disposition of the Shah towards Ibrahim was extremely unpleasant for the shopkeeper. He tried every possible way to harm him. One day the shopkeeper went to the Shah and told him:
- Your Majesty! The bird that Ibrahim brought you lays only three eggs a week, and after a while it will stop laying because there is no male. Order Ibrahim to catch and bring the male.
The Shah listened to the shopkeeper and the next day, when Ibrahim, as usual, came to him, he ordered to immediately bring a male bird, otherwise he threatened with execution.
Frustrated and saddened, Ibrahim returned home and told his mother about what had happened. Mother reassured Ibrahim:
“Go,” she said, “again to the place where you caught this bird, set up a net and blow the pipe.” When the male flies in, don’t lose sight of him until you catch him.
Ibrahim was somewhat encouraged by his mother's words. He was about to embark on a new journey. On the fourth day, Ibrahim arrived at the edge of the forest that was already familiar to him. He still settled down here and began to eagerly await the appearance of the wonderful bird.
Finally, she flew in, and Ibrahim caught her without much difficulty. The caught bird turned out to be even better than the previous one. Ibrahim was overjoyed and immediately returned home.
He was so tired on the road that upon returning home he slept for three whole days. On the fourth day, he took the bird with him and went to the Shah. The Shah was amazed by the beauty of the new bird and, as always, generously rewarded Ibrahim.
Having learned about all this, the shopkeeper flew into a terrible rage: envy tormented him even more. He tried to diminish the glory of Ibrahim, but he, on the contrary, now rose even more and began to enjoy the extraordinary favor of the Shah.
The shopkeeper tried to come up with something else to harm Ibrahim and finally decided to report to the Shah that a wonderful rose existed; if you purchase it, you can admire its beauty, freshness and wonderful aroma for a whole year; but trying to get this rose is fraught with great dangers: it grows only in one garden and on a single bush, and this garden belongs to a monster who has already killed many people who tried to get it; in addition, the garden is surrounded by a wall five fathoms high and one fathom thick, and the entrance to it is only through one gate, at which two fierce lions are tied.
Early in the morning the shopkeeper went to see the Shah, who was in good spirits and received him cordially.
“Sir,” the shopkeeper began after some silence, “you are unusually rich and powerful; Many guests come to you, but they all notice one flaw in your palace: you do not have an extraordinary rose.
“I would gladly enrich the one,” said the Shah, “who would deliver me one of the extraordinary roses, but I only heard that many tried to get it, but did not return.”
“This obstacle,” said the shopkeeper, “can be overcome: the orphan Ibrahim, who by your grace has now become a rich man, has magical powers; He, after all, brought you birds of paradise through magic; For him, nothing is impossible on earth.
The Shah believed the shopkeeper and even appointed him as his dignitary for his resourcefulness. At this time, Ibrahim, the Shah, came to the Shah and invited him to do what the shopkeeper had said.
For the first time in his life, Ibrahim heard about such an extraordinary rose and did not know where and how to get it.
With tears in his eyes, he returned home. In vain did the mother try to find out the reason for these bitter tears:
Ibrahim was unable to utter a single word. Finally, she too began to cry. They cried for a long time until they fell asleep in tears.
When they woke up, Ibrahim told his mother about the new order of the Shah. The unfortunate mother had heard about the extraordinary rose many times and knew how difficult and dangerous it was to get it. She was convinced that her son would never return from this journey. But it was necessary to obey and carry out the Shah's orders.
Ibrahim, in despair, did everything to quickly go for the rose and end his life as quickly as possible, it was so hard for him. But his mother persuaded him to stay with her for at least a few more days.
The poor mother did not leave her son for an hour. She was ready to lose all her wealth if only her son would stay with her. She did not know what to feed Ibrahim, and every day she prepared a lunch of five or six dishes for him; but Ibrahim had no time for food: he was constantly thinking about the upcoming journey.
Finally, the day came when the mother hugged her son for the last time and blessed him on his dangerous journey. Ibrahim took a lot of money with him. He needed to be on the road for a very long time.
Soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done.
In the third year of his journey, Ibrahim finally arrived at the garden where the wonderful rose bloomed.
Here he rested for several days and on the seventh day he slowly approached the garden.
The garden was so large that it took him a lot of work to get around it. Ibrahim wandered around the garden walls for a long time, but could not find the entrance anywhere.
He was about to lie down and fall asleep when he suddenly heard a loud roar. Ibrahim turned around and saw that it was like some kind of mountain was approaching him. It was a div, the owner of the garden. Ibrahim was very frightened and hid behind a bush.
Meanwhile, the diva was getting closer and closer to him and finally approached the bush, behind which he hid
Ibrahim. Fortunately, the diva did not notice him. Approaching the wall of his garden, the div struck the wall with his fist: it immediately parted, and the div entered the garden. Ibrahim at that time came out of his ambush and followed him. Entering the garden, he was amazed by its appearance, beauty and aroma. But he did not stop watching the marvel and saw that he entered the palace. Ibrahim did not dare to enter the palace, because he was afraid that the diva would notice him there and tear him to pieces.
He sat down under a tree and began to think about what to do. But curiosity got the better of him and he decided to sneak into the palace.
He walked through a lot of magnificent rooms and finally reached a beautiful hall, in which a beauty of unearthly beauty sat on a precious carpet, and a diva stretched out on the floor, resting his head on the knees of this beauty. At the sight of the unfamiliar young man, the beauty felt pity for him and made signs for him to leave, but Ibrahim did not listen. Then the beauty said:
- Oh, unfortunate one! Do you see this giant? He had just fallen asleep; in a day he will wake up and tear you to shreds; Better succeed before it's too late.
Ibrahim replied that, having seen her, he was not able to leave her in the hands of the diva; he will either die or take her with him.
“Don’t try to free me,” said the beauty. “Many horsemen tried to free me, and everyone died in this place.” I don't want you to die for me either. Tell me, why did you come here? Maybe I can be useful to you.
Ibrahim replied that he had been on the road for two years and had come here to free her from captivity.
Hearing this, the beauty moved the diva's head away from her, stood up, took Ibrahim into one room and told him to sleep and rest here until the next day. When the div wakes up and goes, as usual, to hunt, then at that time they will consult on what to do. Having given this order, the beauty went back into the hall, sat down in her original place and laid the diva’s head on her knee.
The next day the diva woke up and told the beauty that there was a smell of the human spirit here.
“Perhaps,” said the beauty, “you tore some unfortunate person to pieces, and the smell of him remains in your mouth.” Otherwise, what kind of person would dare to enter here?
Div believed and went hunting. The beauty went to visit her guest and found him sleeping. She woke him up and they decided to run away from the diva.
The diva had many fleet-footed horses. The beauty chose the six best from them and ordered Ibrahim to saddle them. He immediately carried out her orders. Then they entered one of the rooms of the diva, where the gold was kept, filled eight bags with it, loaded four horses with them, and sat on two of them and set off.
In the evening, the diva returned from hunting and, not finding his beloved at home, flew into a terrible rage. He searched all the rooms, walked around the entire garden, but in vain; Khurshid, that was the name of the beauty, and the trace disappeared.
Then the diva went into the stable and wanted to saddle his favorite fleet-footed horse, but he was not there either. Then the div mounted another horse and rushed in the footsteps of the kidnapper.
Ibrahim and Khurshid drove non-stop all day. On the second day, Khurshid said to Ibrahim:
- Look back and tell me what you see? Ibrahim replied that he saw some kind of cloud on the horizon.
“This is not a cloud,” said Khurshid, “but steam that escapes from the nostrils and mouth of the diva.” He was very angry and started chasing us.
After some time, Ibrahim looked back again. This time, in addition to the cloud, he heard some noise similar to the howl of the wind.
“This diva is snoring,” said the beauty, “which means he is not far from us.”
For the third time, Ibrahim looked back and saw that the thickening cloud had approached, covered them, and even a light rain was falling.
“The cloud thickened,” Khurshid explained, “because the div is very close to us; rain comes from the saliva of the diva.
Then they rushed even faster to escape from the diva. After some time, Khurshid told Ibrahim that they had nothing to fear anymore, since they had passed the border beyond which the diva did not dare to step.
They traveled the rest of the way in two months, and by the third they were already home. Ibrahim’s mother, at the sight of her son, could not believe her eyes, and her joy knew no bounds. Ibrahim did not even recognize his mother with reddened eyes, she had become so thin and pale; Since saying goodbye to her son, she stopped eating and drinking and constantly cried for him.
Ibrahim and Khurshid arrived so tired that they could not recover for a whole month. Every day Ibrahim became more and more attached to the beautiful Khurshid, who also fell in love with Ibrahim. It turned out that Khurshid was the daughter of one Shah. She was kidnapped by the diva eight years ago, when she and her friends went for a walk. Then she was eleven years old.
Upon returning home, Ibrahim, at Khurshid’s suggestion, began to build himself a palace, which was supposed to surpass the Shah’s in its grace and beauty, and then they thought of getting married.
Two months after his arrival, Ibrahim suddenly remembered the extraordinary rose for which the Shah had sent him. Seeing Khurshid at the diva, he was so carried away by her that he forgot about the rose and came home without her.
Now he had only one choice: either go for the rose again, or secretly flee to another state with all his riches. Ibrahim remembered the rose while he was directing the workers during construction. He left the workers and, pale as death, ran home. Seeing the pale, sad face of her future husband, Khurshid was very frightened and asked about the reason for his sadness. Then Ibrahim admitted to her that he had not gone for her at all, that the Shah had sent him for a rose, but he forgot to bring it.
The beauty calmed Ibrahim and asked him to serve her a dish; then she hit her index finger on her nose. Immediately two drops of blood fell from the nose onto the dish and turned into two bouquets of roses of extraordinary beauty.
Ibrahim came to extreme amazement and delight, showered Khurshid with kisses as a sign of gratitude and, taking the bouquets, hurried to the Shah. The Shah was very happy about Ibrahim's return and generously rewarded him. His chief dignitary, a former shopkeeper, was very sad: he did not at all expect to see Ibrahim again and considered him dead.
Ibrahim's fame haunted the shopkeeper. He decided to send Ibrahim on such an assignment, the fulfillment of which was impossible for a mortal man, and found a new task for him.
Taking advantage of the time when the Shah was in a particularly pleasant mood, the shopkeeper, now his dignitary, loosened his tongue.
- Your Majesty! - he said. -You have completely forgotten about your parents. After all, they died five years ago. Let's send Ibrahim to the next world, let him know about their health and situation.
The Shah thanked him for reminding him of his parents and promised himself to carry out the shopkeeper’s proposal at all costs.
The next day the shah ordered to call Ibrahim. He immediately appeared, and the Shah, handing him a letter, ordered him to go to the next world the next day and give the letter to his parents.
Ibrahim was terribly embarrassed and wanted to refuse such an unheard-of assignment, but he was ordered not to dissuade himself under any pretext.
The unfortunate Ibrahim was forced to obey and came home in despair. He told Khurshid about the Shah's instructions. She calmed him down and gave him the following advice:
“My dear!” she said to Ibrahim, “as you can see, your Shah has little intelligence, and therefore it is not difficult to deceive him.” Go somewhere for a year, then come back and tell the Shah that his parents are healthy and thank him for his attention.
Ibrahim followed Khurshid's advice, said goodbye to his mother and his beautiful bride and set off on his journey.
He walked - whether it was long or short, Allah knows about this - in the third month he arrived in a large city of another kingdom. Here Ibrahim studied literacy for a whole year and, thanks to his efforts, even learned several languages.
And at this time Khurshid began to take care of the completion of the begun palace and its interior decoration. After some time, Ibrahim returned. To free himself from his enemy, the shopkeeper, Ibrahim came up with the following. He introduced himself to the Shah and said:
- Your Majesty! Your parents are healthy and thank you, but they are offended that you sent me to them, and not your close dignitary. They would give you a lot if he came to them.
The Shah believed Ibrahim, rewarded him, and the shopkeeper, who was immediately present, turned pale with fear when he heard this. The idea of finding out something reliable about his parents was so deeply ingrained in the Shah’s head that he decided to actually send a dignitary to them.
A few days later, the former shopkeeper, and now the main dignitary, received an order from the Shah to go to the next world and visit his long-dead parents.
The position of the dignitary was difficult: he invented this journey for Ibrahim, and now he has to go himself; there was no way to refuse, because his head would have been cut off. For a long time he thought about what to do and finally decided to turn to Ibrahim himself for help.
The next day, the shopkeeper collected all his wealth and went to Ibrahim, threw himself at his feet and with tears in his eyes began to beg him for help, while offering him almost all of his wealth;
Ibrahim at first refused to help, but then gave him advice on how to find a path along which he could go to the next world. He led the shopkeeper to one well, forty arshins deep and said:
- Go down into this well, at the bottom you will see two roads: one leads to the east, and the other to the west. If you follow the first route, you will reach the other world in three years, but you will endure a lot of suffering, and if you follow the second route, you will reach the next world in five years and will not feel any fatigue.
The stupid shopkeeper believed Ibrahim and, thanking him again for his service, closed his eyes and immediately rushed into the well, which became his grave. Thus the shopkeeper died for his bad behavior, to the delight of Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, having returned home, began to prepare for the wedding.
The Shah waited a long time for the return of his dignitary and, finally, when his patience ran out, without waiting for the shopkeeper, he himself went forever to his parents in the next world.
Ibrahim soon married his beautiful Khurshid.
He celebrated the wedding for forty days and forty nights. And the happy life of Ibrahim and Khurshid began.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru