A long time ago, behind the city wall around Pyongyang, a huge meadow stretched all the way to the mountain. And the grass grew there so tall and thick that not everyone dared to pass through.
A young man and his mother lived not far from the city wall. Poor, poor. Every day the young man climbed the mountain, picked flowers, went to the city and sold them. And then, it happened, he would go into the forest,” the young man dreamed of finding a ginseng root in the forest.
And then one summer he went to the mountains early in the morning. The dew glistened in the sun. As soon as the young man began to climb the slope, he suddenly saw a gorge, and there were lilies! Visible and invisible. And so beautiful: they sway slightly in the light breeze. The young man began to tear them. He is in a hurry, he wants to get to Pyongyang before noon, sell flowers and return home with money.
Suddenly the young man hears someone's steps. He turned around and next to him a beautiful girl was holding a lily in her hand. The girl blushed, became ashamed and said:
- Why do you need so many flowers? Have pity on them, don’t tear them up. See how beautiful they are!
The young man was surprised: where did the fairy come from here? He doesn't know what to do and says:
- Okay, I won’t tear it up.
Word by word, we started talking. They began to walk together in the meadow, talk, and did not notice how they approached the house where the girl lived. He was not far from the gorge.
The house is beautiful, under the tiles, the doors and columns are richly carved. The girl invited the boy to the house. They began to talk again and did not notice how evening came. The young man hurried home.
Once again the girl asked not to pick any more lilies and gave the young man a bag of roots as a farewell gift. The young man took the bag carefully, like a precious treasure. I came home and looked: there were ginseng roots in the bag.
From then on, the young man and his mother knew no more need; they lived in abundance. Only the young man could not forget the girl he met in the gorge. If only I could see her one more time! Every day I went to the mountains, but the girl was nowhere to be found. Then the young man went to the girl’s house. But I didn’t find the beauty there either. Suddenly he looks - an old man! “Surely the owner of the house,” the young man thought, went up to the old man, and said that he was looking for a beautiful girl.
The old man listened to the young man and answered:
“So you were lucky enough to meet the lily girl.” So know this! She is not a person - she is a lily. Only sometimes she turns into a girl. If you meet someone who loves lilies. Have fun with it and will certainly give you a treasure.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru