Once upon a time there lived a Shah, the Shah had a son and a daughter, only the daughter was mute. She was beautiful, like a fifteen-day moon, charming, like a paradise Guria. Her eyes sparkled like morning stars, her eyebrows seemed to be painted with a brush. She was smart and kind, gentle and fragile. The constant sadness on her face gave her the appearance of an angel grieving over human sin. Her father loved her and her brother adored her.
Feeling the approach of death, the Shah married his son-heir to a charming princess and, ordering him to love and take care of his sister, died.
Strictly observing his father's behest, the young Shah loved his sister tenderly and devotedly; on the wings of lightning he fulfilled her slightest desires, did not allow a light breeze to touch her, did not allow her to step on the ground. Where she put her foot, there he was ready to lay his head. He swore only on her name, on her head.
Such tender love between a brother and his sister did not please his young wife, who was as angry as she was charming. She was jealous of her husband for her sister, hated her with all her heart and constantly thought about how to destroy her.
The young Shah had a falcon, which he loved very much. Once, when her husband was hunting, the evil queen strangled a falcon with her own hands, and upon the Shah’s return from the hunt she said:
“Look what your sister did: she knew that you loved the falcon, and she killed it on purpose just to cause trouble for you.”
“Let the falcon be a victim of the dust of my sister’s feet!” said the Shah, and after that he did not even think about the bird.
Seeing that in this way it was not possible to cool the brother’s love for his sister, the evil queen came up with another means. The Shah had an Arabian horse, which he loved and cherished like the apple of his eye. The evil queen slaughtered this horse with her own hands, and when the Shah, upon returning from the hunt, asked:
Who slaughtered my beloved horse? -
The wife answered:
- Your beloved sister.
“Let my beloved horse be a victim of the ashes of my beloved sister’s feet, so long as she does not grieve and be sad,” said the Shah and no longer remembered his beloved horse.
Such composure of the Shah extremely irritated the evil princess; she began to cry loudly, tore her dress out of frustration, scratched her face and chest until it bled, tore out the hair on her head and finally decided on the most desperate remedy: at night she stabbed her only child and threw his corpse into the room of the unfortunate dumb princess, and she, moaning and crying, with her hair loose, with her bloody chest open, ran to the Shah and began to scream, frantically beating her chest:
- Go, go, see what your beloved sister did: she stabbed your only child. Oh, I swear by the great Allah, if this time you forgive her, I will strangle the murderer of my unfortunate child with my own hands! O great, just Allah! Why didn’t you kill this murderous villain with your lightning... Oh, woe is me, woe is me, unfortunate mother!..
Dejected with grief, the unfortunate Shah ordered to immediately take his sister into the dark forest and leave her there to be devoured by wild beasts. The servants carried out the Shah's orders; They blindfolded the unfortunate dumb princess so that she could not return home, took her into the forest, sat her on a stump, and left.
The unfortunate princess was left alone in the forest. She began to cry and mentally cry out to Allah. She cried for a long time, shed tears from her wonderful eyes for a long time and finally fell asleep.
She slept maybe an hour, maybe a day, maybe a year, maybe ten years, but when she woke up and opened her eyes, she saw in front of her a beautiful little bunny with golden fur, velvet paws and beautiful eyes. He stood in front of her on his hind legs and looked at her tenderly and tenderly with his big eyes, as if he was protecting her sleep. When the princess opened her eyes, the bunny said in a human voice:
- Play with me, lovely princess!
- What do you want, dear little bunny, for me to play with you? - asked the princess and noticed with surprise and joy that her tongue had loosened and she was speaking clearly and freely.
- So I’ll run, and you catch up with me.
The bunny ran, the princess followed him. They ran for maybe an hour, or a day, maybe for a year, or maybe for ten whole years. Suddenly the princess saw in front of her a magnificent golden palace, surrounded by a shady garden in which cool, fragrant fountains gurgled.
The bunny darted through the golden gates into the palace and the princess followed him. She saw a high staircase, one step of which was gold, another silver, a third iron, a fourth copper, a fifth bronze, a sixth marble, etc.
Without hesitation, the princess followed the bunny up these stairs and saw on the top landing a golden door that led to a luxurious room sparkling with gold, silver and precious stones. The floor was covered with soft silk carpets, the ceiling and walls were decorated with gold, turquoise and diamonds. There were ivory ottomans with gold legs placed against the walls, and soft velvet pillows on them. In each corner of the room stood a golden basin filled with incense on an alabaster stand.
The lovely princess, fascinated by this splendor, stood in the middle of the room and in bewilderment looked for a bunny with her eyes, but instead of a bunny with golden fur, she saw in front of her a young beautiful shahzade, with black shiny eyes, arched eyebrows and beautiful curls; his face breathed with courage and kindness. His tall, straight figure, like a plane tree, would be the envy of the angels of Allah.
He approached the princess and greeted her with these words:
“I welcome you, lovely princess, to my palace, which now belongs to you.” The only thing missing from him until now was your enchanting gaze; If you agree to decorate my palace with it, then I and all my subordinates will be your obedient slaves.
“Who are you, beautiful shahzade, and where is that bunny with golden fur who lured me to this palace?” asked the princess, trembling with fear.
- Oh, lovely princess, don’t be afraid of me! I am the son of the powerful and glorious padishah Chini-Machin Yengibar, my name is Shah-Nurivan. Evil relatives treacherously killed my father and deprived me of the throne. A great wizard, a good friend of my father, saved me from my enemies and hid me in this forest. He gave me this golden palace; he, in the form of a bunny, so as not to frighten you, lured you to this palace. The sorcerer knew your story, knew how the evil queen kicked you out of your father’s palace, protected you from predatory animals there in the forest when you were sleeping. With his art he loosened your tongue and endowed you with the gift of speech.
The princess, with tears in her eyes, thanked the good shahzade and his good friend the wizard.
“Don’t cry, beautiful princess,” exclaimed the Shahzade, “I know that you, an innocent one, were kicked out of your father’s palace.” I give you my palace. Do you want to be my wife?
The princess blushed and only with this did she give her consent. At first sight, she fell in love with the beautiful, kind Shahzade.
Suddenly the entire palace was illuminated with multi-colored lights, and invisible sazandars began to play wondrous heavenly melodies. Beautiful slaves entered, who, singing wedding songs, dressed the astonished princess in a magnificent royal dress and led her to another room, where the shahzade was waiting for her with his wizard friend. The good wizard blessed them and gave the princess two golden apples.
- You will have two boys; you will give them these golden apples. “They will bring happiness to your children,” said the wizard and at that very moment he disappeared.
The princess became the wife of the beautiful Shahzade and was very happy.
She really, as the wizard predicted, gave birth to two boys, two beautiful angels. One day the children were playing with golden apples in the room, and the princess stood at the window and looked into the distance. Suddenly, old days, old times were resurrected in her memory: her father, her kind brother, her evil daughter-in-law, who kicked her out of her father’s house, and tears flowed like a stream from her beautiful eyes; at that very moment she noticed a horseman at the gates of the palace and recognized him as her brother, dear brother, whom she could never forget. The rider also looked at her, but did not recognize his sister.
“Beautiful queen,” he turned to her, “night found me in the forest; I got lost and lost my way.
I was exhausted from long wanderings, and my horse was also exhausted. Won't you let me spend the night in your palace?
The queen immediately ordered the servants to let the rider into the palace. The grooms took his horse and led him to a luxurious room, where a rich table was laid for him. Beautiful girls served him at the table. When he got up from the table, the girls washed his feet and hands with fragrant water and took him to the bedroom, where a soft velvet bed was prepared for him. The Shah lay down and immediately fell asleep.
The princess, recognizing her brother, ordered her servants to feed him, give him something to drink and show him all sorts of honors, but not to say at all who owned this palace and who lived in it.
When the Shah fell asleep, the princess quietly entered his room and, putting the golden apples with which her children played in her brother’s hunting bag, quietly left the room. Waking up in the morning, the Shah was about to mount his horse and ride away, when the servants, on the orders of the princess, detained him.
“You stole the golden apples of our little Shahzade,” they said, “and we will not let you go.”
The Shah got angry. He wanted to break free from the hands of the slaves by force, but they, despite this resistance, searched him, found golden apples in his hunting bag and took him to the princess.
“Have mercy, queen,” exclaimed the unfortunate Shah, caught in theft. -Your slaves accuse me of stealing golden apples, but I swear by Allah, I am not guilty!
“Shah!” exclaimed the princess, “see how easy it is to accuse an innocent person!” Meanwhile, you believed the words of your evil wife and accused your own sister of killing your child; she, innocent of anything, was kicked out of the palace and left in the forest to be devoured by wild beasts.
- Oh, woe is me! If my sister was not guilty, if I accused her in vain, it would be better for me to die than to live. Queen, I am worthy of death. Order your servants to cut off my head now.
“Don’t worry, dear brother,” said the touched princess. “I’m your sister!” You accused me of killing your child, but I was innocent and Allah saved me. ..
The Shah hugged his sister and began kissing her hands, legs, and dress. He did not know how to express his joy, because he had found his beloved sister, whom he considered dead. The queen also rejoiced no little when she found her brother, whom she never ceased to love. She told how the evil queen, having killed a wonderful bird, her beloved horse and, finally, a child, blamed her.
That same day the Shah sent horsemen to his capital, and they brought the evil queen to him. He ordered her to be tied to the tail of a wild horse and set loose across the fields, over the mountains, over ditches, so that only her left ear remained the largest piece of her body.
Evil is there, good is here.
Three apples fell from the sky: one for me, another for the narrator, and a third for Mullah Ibrahim (the narrator’s name).
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru