A long time ago, in the oak woods of Lorestan, there lived an old couple who had nothing in the world except a pretty girl. One day at school, the teacher stared at the girl in horror and sighed deeply.

“Alas, alas, alas” uttered the teacher sadly without commenting any further.

Next day, the teacher again stared at the girl, feeling pity for her, but kept silent the same as the day before.

On the third day, the girl told her parents about the teacher’s strange behavior. The old couple, who were badly frightened, understood the impending doom lingering over their daughter’s head, so they made up their mind to leave the village behind quickly. The trio set out in the dead of night and walked for a long time through the oak hills until they reached a nice and beautiful spring. They stopped by to take some rest. There, the girl leaned over the spring to drink some water, when all of the sudden she slipped and fell into the water.

In the blink of an eye, she was driven beneath the water with a magic force. Trembling with fear, the girl found herself in a garden in the middle of nowhere. There was an ancient picturesque edifice before her eyes. She traipsed around for some time and stepped inside surreptitiously where a young handsome man was lying unconscious. His body was covered in thousands of pins. Beside his bed lay a book. There was also a note addressed to the first woman who would find the man to read one page of the book and take off one pin at a time. According to the note, the man would sneeze then and come to life after the removal of the last pin, and he would marry his savior angel.

The girl, determined to face her destiny, began reading the book page by page and taking off the pins off his body to resurrect him. With the passage of time, she got bored and wished for a change. One day, she saw a shepherdess out in the field and thought it was a good idea to have her as her roommate. The shepherdess accepted the invitation without having any second thoughts, and they began living together. But the girl kept the man’s story a secret. However, the shepherdess, a nosy and dowdy woman, tried to check out what the girl was hiding. So she began eavesdropping behind the door of the room where the girl was attending to the man. Little by little, she learnt everything about the girl’s secret; but did not do anything and waited for the right time.

On the last day, when one page and one pin had remained, the girl went to the bathroom. She was up in the air and wanted to look her best when the man would lay his eyes on her for the first time. When she was out, the shepherdess tiptoed into the room, read the last page and removed the last pin behind the girl’s back.

The man sneezed, opened his eyes, stretched his arms and became alive at once. Right at that moment, the girl, cheerful and beautiful, walked into the room and was shocked to see the man alive laughing with the shepherdess. The man asked who the girl was, and the shepherdess said scornfully that she was her servant. The girl burst into tear and ran out of the room.

As time went by, one day the man was to go to town. He asked the shepherdess if she needed anything from town, and she gave him a long list.

The man who could not figure out why the girl, now his servant, was always sad asked her if she also needed anything. The confident stone was what she requested. The man raised his eyebrow, unsure whether he could find such a thing, promised to try his best to get it and set out on his journey. The man searched the entire town and finally got the stone. The seller, looking like an old magician with long grey beard, cautioned the man to take extra care when using the stone as it might cost a life.
The man, now more curious than ever before, paid for the stone and carried it home thoughtfully. When he returned home, he saw the girl waiting for him impatiently at the gate. He handed her the stone and did not say anything. The girl retired into her room right away and waited till it was late at midnight. Everywhere was deadly quite except for an owl screaming from a far distance. She put the stone before her and began relating her story. The man who had concealed himself behind the door was all ears. When the girl finished with her story; she addressed the stone and asked solemnly:

“Which one of us must break? You or me?”
“Stone must break”, the man replied promptly remembering the seller’s advice.

The stone was exploded at once upon the man speaking.
The girl turned her head and was taken aback to see the handsome man standing behind watching her kindly. He approached her in silence, took her hand and walked out onto the balcony where they stood watching the sun rise over the land.

Caption: She put the stone before her and began relating her story. The man who had concealed himself behind the door was all ears.

Photo by: Rohollah Mirmohammadi

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