Once upon a time lived in the eastern part of Afghanistan, in one of the remote valleys, the mighty blacksmith Ahangar. He forged excellent blades, and in peacetime, plows and horseshoes. And he also sang songs.
The people of the valleys willingly listened to Akhangar’s songs; he was known under different names in many regions of Central Asia.
People living in the forests among huge walnut trees and on the Snowy Hindu Kush, in Kataghan and Badakhshan, Khanabad and Kunar, Herat and Paghman came to listen to his songs.
Most of all, people fell in love with the song of songs of Akhangar - the story of the paradise valley.
She charmed and sounded haunting in a person.
And one more thing: the story of a distant paradise valley seemed strangely familiar to the listeners.
The song required a special mood, and when it was not there, the blacksmith refused to sing.
From time to time people asked whether such a valley really existed in this world.
Ahangar could only say:
— The valley from the song is as real as reality itself.
- How do you know? - people asked, - have you been there?
- Not at all the way they usually visit other lands.
Nevertheless, for Akhangar and almost all of his listeners, the valley from the song was real - as real as reality is real.
Aisha, a girl from the same village with whom he was in love, doubted whether such a place really existed. Hasan, a braggart and formidable bully, who vowed to marry Aisha and did not miss the opportunity to make the blacksmith laugh at the opportunity, also had doubts.
One day, when the villagers were sitting quietly around Akhangar, who had just finished singing his song, Hassan spoke:
- If you believe that this valley really exists and that it is supposedly located over there, behind the ridges of the Sangan Range, melting into the haze, why don’t you find it?
“You don’t have to do this, I know for sure,” said Ahangar.
“You just believe in what suits you, and turn away if something doesn’t suit you,” Hassan got excited. - Let's test you, friend. You love Aisha, but she cannot rely on you - she has no faith in your wonderful valley. You can’t take her for yourself - after all, if there is no trust between husband and wife, there is no happiness, and hence all the misfortunes.
“So you want me to go there?” - asked Ahangar.
“Yes,” Hasan shouted, and everyone who was present supported him.
“If I get there and come back unharmed, will Aisha agree to go for me?” - asked Ahangar.
“Yes,” Aisha whispered.
And so Ahangar, taking dried mulberries and a crust of bread, set off to the distant ridges.
He rose higher and higher until he reached the wall - it covered the entire ridge. When he overcame its steep cliffs, another wall opened up behind it, even more impregnable. This was followed by a third, a fourth and finally a fifth.
Having crossed it, Ahangar saw that he found himself in a valley, exactly the same as the one where he lived.
People came out to greet him, and when he saw them, he felt that something unusual was happening...
Several months passed, and Akhangar the blacksmith, barely moving his legs, like a decrepit old man, entered his native village and hobbled to his modest hut.
The news of his return spread throughout the area, and people gathered at his house to listen to the story of his experiences.
The ringleader Hassan, with general agreement, called Akhangar to the window.
Everyone gasped when they saw how old he had become.
- Well, Master Ahangar, have you reached the heavenly valley?
- Got there.
-What does she look like?
Ahangar, trying to find the right words, looked at those gathered, feeling such fatigue and hopelessness that he had never experienced before. Finally he spoke:
“I climbed, climbed, climbed up, and now, after all the trials and disappointments, in uninhabited places, where it seems there could be no human habitation, I came across a valley. This valley was exactly the same as ours. Then I saw those who live there. These are not just people exactly like us: they are us. There, in the valley, lives the same Hasan, Aisha, Ahangar and everyone else - just like here.
When we look at them, they are for us our likeness and reflection. In fact, we are their likeness and reflection, we are their doubles...
Everyone decided that Ahangar had gone crazy due to the hardships he had endured.
Aisha married Hassan the bully.
Akhangar quickly became decrepit and died.
And all those who heard this story from the lips of Akhangar himself first lost their taste for life, then began to become decrepit and die. They felt that something was approaching them that they could not cope with, something that left no hope, and therefore they lost interest in life itself.
Only once every thousand years does this secret appear to human eyes.
Seeing her, a person begins to fade. When he tells the truth as it is to others, they wither and soon die.
People believe that this is just a catastrophe, and therefore it is better for them not to know about it, because they do not realize (this is the nature of their everyday life) that they have more than one self, more than one hope, more than one single opportunity - up there, in paradise from the song of the mighty blacksmith Akhangar.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru