There was a Shah in Samarkand named Shamil, and he had his only daughter. Her name was Zarniyar. The Shah hired a mullah to tutor his daughter separately. And he always worked first with the Shah’s daughter, and then with other children.
One day the Shah was having lunch with his wife. “Listen, husband,” his wife told him, “we don’t have an heir.” Let's go to Mecca, visit the holy Kaaba and double our names.
The Shah agreed with his wife's proposal and said:
-Well, that's good!
In the morning he called the vizier and told him:
- Vizier, I have a daughter, whom I hide from prying eyes. You won't have to worry about her at all. She has plenty of food and drink. Sit in my place and reign. If I die, you will remain the Shah, and when I return, you will still be the Vizier. I am going to Mecca and entrusting my daughter to you, and I entrust you to Allah.
And, entrusting his daughter to the vizier, the Shah and his wife set off. Making one stop every day, they reached Mecca. The vizier remained to rule in place of the Shah.
One day, while walking along the balcony, he saw that the daughter of the Shah took a harp in her hands and went out into the courtyard. Looking at her, the vizier exclaimed:
- Hey, this is the kind of girl that Allah created on a good day and in a good hour.
And he loved her with all his heart.
“Who knows,” he thought, “what will happen to the Shah?” He is an old man and will probably die somewhere along the way and not return.
The vizier waited until night and... went to the Shah's daughter. Seeing the vizier at the door, she shouted:
- Oh, you so-and-so, how did you dare to come to me?
“I swear by Allah,” answered the vizier, “if you talk too much, I will order your head to be cut off.” Your father is an old man and will probably die somewhere and not return.
Seeing that the vizier was terribly angry and could kill her, the princess said:
- Vizier, sit here, I’ll go out into the courtyard and come back.
Taking the aftaba, the princess left the room and slowly headed into the desert. Making her way in the dark night, she, who had not seen anything before, met with some shepherd. Seeing her, the shepherd said:
-Oh, my dear sister! I didn’t have a sister, and Allah just sent you to me. Let's go!
And hugging her by the neck, he began to kiss her first on one cheek, then on the other, and led her with him. At the edge of the forest, a shepherd had a house in which he lived with his old mother. In the house he had plenty of everything: butter, milk, sour milk, and cheese. Arriving home, the shepherd said:
- Mother, I found myself a sister.
“My child,” said the mother, “I was sacrificed for the sake of your sister and yourself!”
After living a little, the Shah's daughter saw that the shepherd's mother was very dirty. She warmed the water and washed her hair, bathed her and washed her dress. Every time the shepherd left, he entrusted the princess to his mother, saying:
- Look, mother, take care of my sister; if I come and see that she is sad, then with this very stick that you see, I will beat you until it breaks.
Let them stay here for now. I'll tell you about Shah Shamil, how he visited Mecca and returned back. The vizier knew that the Shah, upon returning, would learn the secret. He mounted his horse and rode towards the Shah. When they greeted each other, the Shah asked about his daughter. The vizier shook his head and answered him:
- Eh, Shamil! Don't call her daughter. She turned out to be a real slut. She sowed enmity between all the townspeople. And no matter how much I instructed her on the path of truth, she did not listen. Finally, I told her that when you, her father, arrive, I will tell you to kill her. And so, at night she ran away. I let everyone know, but she is nowhere to be found.
Returning from his trip, the Shah met with his people and, having sat down again on the throne, began to reign. And so, the vizier one day said to him:
- May God grant you a long life, ruler of the world! I will no longer be vizier.
“Why?” asked the Shah.
“Because,” answered the vizier, “I am already old and it’s enough for me to be a vizier.”
And the Shah relieved him of his post. The vizier bought the clothes of a dervish and, having changed his clothes, began to walk from city to city and look for the princess.
Meanwhile, the princess, having lived with a shepherd for a month, once thought to herself:
-If I am the daughter of the Shah, then why should I stay here?
After waiting for night, she ran away and, when it began to get light, she reached some area. Here she saw a plane tree and hid in its hollow.
And then she sees a man riding a horse.
- It turned out that it was Shahzade.
Having arrived, Shahzade wanted to water his horse. But the horse did not drink the water. He looked into the water and noticed someone’s reflection in it. Looking around, he saw a girl at the foot of the plane tree.
“Who are you, where are you coming from?” he turned to her.
“I ran away from home,” Zarniyar answered.
“Sit on the horse behind me,” said the shahzade and, putting the girl on the horse, he brought her to his home. Zarniyar stayed here for a whole month.
Seeing that she was a well-mannered girl and very similar to people of the Shah’s origin, the queen suggested to her husband:
- Listen, husband, let's marry this girl with our son.
Zarniyar was married to Shahzadeh. They celebrated the wedding for several days and several nights.
After some time, Zarniyar said to her husband:
- I am the daughter of the Shah of Yemen.
“So you are the Shah’s daughter?” asked the husband. -Why didn’t you tell me about this until now?
Time passed and Zarniyar became pregnant. When the time came, she had a son.
But let's leave them here for now and return to the shepherd. Returning home, the shepherd saw that the girl was gone.
“Mother, where did my sister go?” he turned to his mother.
“My child, she disappeared at night,” answered the old woman. Forgetting about his flock, the shepherd put on the dress of a dervish and began to wander from city to city, in search of Zarniyar.
Meanwhile, Zarniyar's husband, when their son was nine months old, called the vizier to him and told him:
- Vizier, take her to her father's country. She is the daughter of the Shah of Yemen. Let her see her parents and then bring her back.
Shahzade solemnly escorted Zarniyar on her way. Before reaching three miles to Yemen, the caravan stopped and pitched tents.
Having waited until nightfall, the vizier thought to himself:
“There is no one here who could stop me,” and he slowly made his way to Zarniyar.
When Zarniyar saw the vizier at her place, she shouted to him:
-Oh, you so-and-so, how dare you enter my tent?
“Talk less,” answered the vizier, “or I will order you and your son’s heads to be cut off.”
Seeing that she had nothing to do, Zarniyar told him:
“Sit here, I’ll go out into the yard and come back!” Leaving the tent, she ran away. At dawn she reached a city. Sees is her father's country. Zarniyar recognized the local bazaar and shops. She went to a tailor's shop.
“My husband is a dervish,” she said, “give him a dervish dress,” and she bought a dervish outfit from him, down to the kashkul and teberzin.
Having put on this dress and tucked her hair under her hat, she took the kashkul and teberzine in her hands and, going up to the large teahouse, began to sing a song. She had such a beautiful voice that she moved everyone who listened to her. Therefore, all the people gathered around her. The owner of the tea shop and the cook saw that before they earned one hundred rubles daily, but this time they earned two hundred.
-Yeah, dervish! I will water and feed you. “Stay here as long as you like,” said the cook Zarniyar.
But let’s leave them here for now, and I’ll tell you about the vizier.
As soon as morning came, the vizier took his army with him and returned back. Appearing to the shahzada, he said:
- It turns out that this girl is a real slut; she left us.
Then, dressed in the dress of a dervish, he began to look for Zarniyar. Shahzade also, under the guise of a dervish, set out in search of Zarniyar.
One day, when Zarniyar was singing, she saw a dervish standing in the crowd. Taking a closer look, she recognized him as her father's vizier.
“Aha, dervish!” she told him. “Please, sing some song too.”
“Do I dare to sing in front of you?” answered the vizier.
“In that case,” Zarniyar suggested, “stay here with me.”
The next time she saw that a shepherd she knew, also in the clothes of a dervish, approached them.
“Sing, please!” she turned to him. The shepherd also replied:
- Do I dare to sing in front of you?
“If you don’t eat, stay with me,” Zarniyar suggested to him.
Then she saw that her husband's vizier, also dressed as a dervish, had come to them.
“Please, sing some song too,” she suggested.
And this one also replied:
-Do I dare to sing in front of you?
“Then stay with me,” she said.
After some time, she saw that her husband had arrived:
-Aha-dervish, please sing something! But he also replied:
-Do I dare to sing in front of you?
“In that case, stay with me,” said Zarniyar.
So, five dervishes were already here. And every day Zarniyar sang and gathered people around her. The rumor about this reached the Shah, who, through a messenger, invited this dervish to come to visit him. When the courtier conveyed the Shah's proposal to Zarniyar, she replied:
- Tell the Shah that there are five of us.
The courtier conveyed her words to the Shah. The Shah, through a courtier, ordered that all five of them should come to him.
And all five dervishes came to visit the Shah. First they were treated to food, and then Zarniyar began to sing. The Shah saw that she had such a voice that even a bird flying across the sky would stop, enchanted. Having finished singing, Zarniyar said to the Shah:
-God grant you a long life, sir! I want to tell you something.
“You can talk,” the Shah allowed.
“God grant you a long life, sir,” Zarniyar addressed him. “I have a request for you.”
“Whatever you say, aha-dervish, will be carried out by us,” answered the Shah. “Speak!”
“Put a sentry at the door,” said Zarniyar, “and order him not to let anyone out of the house or let anyone into the house.”
“Okay!” answered the Shah and posted a sentry at the door.
Then Zarniyar told him:
— Before he starts singing, the dervish usually talks about his life.
“You can tell me,” answered the Shah. And Zarniyar began her story:
-God grant you a long life, sir! Once upon a time there lived a Shah who had a daughter. One day, when the Shah was having dinner with his wife, his wife said to him: “Listen, husband! We have accumulated a lot of wealth, let’s go to Mecca and worship the holy stone.” “Excellent!” answered the Shah and, leaving his daughter everything she needed for life and appointing a mullah who was supposed to teach her, he called the vizier and told him;
"Do you know, vizier, we are going to Mecca. I leave you in my place. I have a daughter, whom I hide from prying eyes. I entrust her to you, I entrust you to God."
At this point the Shah interrupted Zarniyar.
-Where did this girl go?
“Wait, listen to the story to the end,” said Zarniyar.
“Let me go out into the courtyard!” said the vizier, disguised as a dervish.
“You can’t, sit still,” they answered him, and he obeyed.
“So, they set off,” continued Zarniyar. “One day the vizier, walking along the balcony, saw the daughter of his shah and, waiting for night, made his way to her. No matter how much the princess asked, no matter how much she begged him, the vizier was inexorable. Finally, seeing that the vizier would either kill or dishonor her, she told him, “I will go out into the courtyard and come,” and when she came out, she fled into the desert, where she met a shepherd. The shepherd kissed her on one and the other cheek and said to her: “Oh, my dear sister! I just don’t have a sister, and Allah sent you to me!”
Hearing this, the shepherd asked:
- Aha-dervish, my dear, where did this girl go?
“Listen to the end,” Zarniyar said and continued:
“The shepherd took her to his home. The girl saw that the shepherd had plenty of butter, cheese, milk, and sour milk in his house. He also had an old mother and no one else. And so, the shepherd said to his mother: “Mother, I have found a sister. I swear by all the saints, if I see her sad, I will beat you with this stick until it breaks.” The next day, the girl rolled up her sleeves, cleaned the house and yard, and bathed the old woman.
“Glory to you, Lord, where did you send her to me from!” said the old woman. And the girl happily spent several days here. But one day, after thinking, she said to herself: “How long will I, the daughter of the Shah, stay here?” and, waiting for the night, she ran away. At dawn she reached a clearing. Here she saw a plane tree and hid in its hollow. After a little time, she saw the rider. He rode up to water the horse, but it snorted and turned its head away from the water. The rider looked and saw someone’s reflection in the water. He looked around. He sees a girl sitting in the hollow of a plane tree. He asked her why she was sitting here, and she told him that she had run away. Then the stranger invited her to sit on his horse behind him and took her to his home. At these words, the shahzade quickly asked:
- Oh, my dear, where did this girl go?
“Listen to the end,” Zarniyar answered him and continued:
“So, this horseman, who turned out to be the son of the Shah, took the girl to his home. When the girl lived here for some time, Shahzade’s mother saw that she was a well-mannered girl. “Come on, let’s marry her to our son!” she suggested to her husband. And so, they gave the girl away as Shahzadeh. Then she had a son. One day she told her husband that she was the daughter of the Shah. Shahzade asked why she had not told him about this until now. The next day he equipped her for the journey and, giving her a vizier as a companion, solemnly sent her to visit her parents.
Hearing this, the vizier Shahzade began to ask:
-Let me go out!
“You can’t, sit still,” they answered him.
“And so, not reaching three miles from the girl’s hometown,” continued Zarniyar, “the travelers stopped and pitched tents. At night, the vizier, deciding that no one could stop him here, made his way to the princess. No matter how hard the latter tried, she could not do anything with him and finally told him:
- “Sit here, I’ll be right back,” and. Having come out, she started to run. Arriving in her father’s city, she bought herself a dervish’s clothes and, putting them on, began to sing in the teahouse... And now, sir, may God grant you a long life, here before us is your vizier, the shepherd, my husband, the vizier of my husband and you, my father.
Having said this, Zarniyar took off her hat and added:
- Tell me, am I not your daughter?
The Shah immediately called the executioner and ordered the heads of both viziers to be cut off.
Having made his daughter's husband shah in his place, and the shepherd vizier, he told them:
-Live forever, from generation to generation, use your power and all these riches and blessings of life.
They lived, ate, drank and went into the earth, and we will also eat, drink and enjoy life.
Three apples fell from the sky: one is mine, the other will go to me, and the third will go to the narrator.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru