This happened in the Basque Country about a hundred years ago. Two people walked along a mountain road to the pass that separates the country of France from the country of Spain. A Basque named Ganis, whom the whole district knew, and a beautiful girl. And this girl was the Spanish Queen herself. Ganis and the Spanish Queen walked quickly, but the Queen stopped and asked:
- Ganis, Basque Ganis, how can I thank you for your service? Do you want gold, Ganis? Come with me to Madrid, and you will become a general or chamberlain there...
- Chamberlain, queen? – Ganis smiled. - No, I cannot be a chamberlain, because beyond the doors of your courtyard I will not see the peaks of the Pyrenees. And I can’t be a general, queen. The beat of the drum is not for my ears. I'm used to the song of the wind, mountains and trees. I like this music, and only this music is my marching march. The woolen beret of the Basque, queen, is dearer to me than honors and power.
“Ganis, Basque Ganis, here is the river,” the queen said again. – The water is high in it. And I see soldiers, Ganis. They want to stop us. But if you save me, if you carry me through these stormy waters, then when I am in Madrid, I will give you a palace and years of rest and wealth for these moments of fatigue.
“Do not be afraid, queen,” answered Ganis, “do not be afraid of either the cold or the stormy stream.” You will see your Madrid! But don’t tell me anything about the palace that awaits me in Madrid, and don’t tell me about the years of peace and wealth. What will Ganis do in your city, where people live day and night in stone cages, one above the other, one next to the other, as if they were buried alive? The Basque was born in the mountains and must die in the mountains. The bed for a Basque is a cliff covered with moss. Here he dreams, and his dreams smell of cumin and thyme, they circle above his head like birds over the Pyrenees.
The queen fell silent and closed her eyes. The rocks parted and the stream stopped its waves, because the Pyrenees liked the words of Ganis.
And the soldiers were unable to fire their guns.
And when the queen opened her eyes, she was already on the other side, the generals and chamberlains were meeting her to take her to Madrid.
And Ganis, an unknown poor Basque in a woolen beret, with a maquila in his belt, remained in the Pyrenees. The south wind - Ike Egoa brought the ringing of bells to the Basque villages. It was the Queen of Spain who entered the city of Madrid. But Ganis remained in his country, among his friends, his mountains, and Ike Egoa told him tales as old as Baskonia itself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru