Once upon a time there lived an insanely evil and terribly terrible queen. She inherited all this from her ancestors: kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, kings and queens, counts and countesses... From generation to generation, they came closer and closer to beasts in their treatment of their people. They, adoring predators, depicted their power on family coats of arms in the form of lions, tigers, eagles, crocodiles, boa constrictors, panthers and scorpions. The queen in question was the living personification of all these coats of arms and even more... She was more terrible than Fear itself and all the witches that were ever in fairy tales.
Judge for yourself what this queen is like if boar stubble grew on her head instead of hair and she was forced to wear a heavy helmet, fastening it tightly with a belt to her chin. But even so, when the queen’s tiger-heart boiled with anger and her stubble stood on end, the helmet rose eight and sometimes ten inches above her head.
Her eyes filled with anger terrified everyone, and she was forced to wear dark glasses.
Since instead of nails she had lion claws growing, she had no choice but to wear gloves made of thick elk skin. Ordinary kid ones turned out to be not strong enough: the claws broke through them as soon as she lost her temper. The fierce queen brought the poor, hardworking people into despair.
Meanwhile, there were people in the kingdom who needed just such a queen. Here we must talk about the seven uncrowned kings who ruled the country and people through the crowned queen.
In this kingdom, unlike all other kingdoms, all wealth belonged to seven masters, seven rich men, seven lords of all lands, all forests, all rivers, all sheep, all weaving and spinning looms and everything that grows, is mined and processed.
These seven uncrowned rulers were the real kings of the kingdom, and the crowned queen was with them. Yes, with them! Like an ax to an executioner! Like teeth in a cleft palate! What a sting for a snake! Like a knife for a robber! In a word, terrible for everyone, she was an obedient and very dutiful queen under seven kings.
They wrote laws on behalf of the queen, declared her the mouth of war, executed her, tried her, pardoned her - in a word, they did everything that was beneficial to them.
The queen was an excellent swordsman, cutting off seven heads at a time. She fired a musket without missing a hit and wielded a knife like a sea robber.
The unarmed queen was even more feared. She took off her gloves, helmet and goggles. The stubble on her head stood out so terribly, her bloodshot eyes sparkled so murderously and her claws pierced the victim so deeply that the army stood on guard, and the court fell on its face.
The people of this kingdom, who only knew how to work, did not know a way to get rid of the cruelty of the queen and the slavery of the seven kings, and lived by hope and prayer. But a good sorceress was found. Yes. Such a sorceress still managed to survive in this cruel kingdom!
And the sorceress advised that the most beautiful, most intelligent, most warm-hearted, most virtuous girl be assigned as a servant to the queen, assuring that she would defeat the queen.
There was nothing left to do but try this remedy. Soon a nationwide survey was carried out, and it turned out that the most beautiful, smartest, most warm-hearted and virtuous girl in the kingdom was none other than the daughter of a washerwoman.
When the girl was brought to the queen’s palace, everyone noticed that the palace had become lighter. It was glowing sunlight girl's golden hair. No one has ever seen such hair before!
As soon as the girl raised her eyelids, everyone realized that in her eyes the blue sky and the calm blue sea were vying for primacy in beauty. This is where the reason for which this tale is told began. The seven uncrowned kings immediately realized that the people wanted to soften the queen’s temper, and this could cause a weakening of their power and a decrease in their income. And they whispered to the queen:
Your Majesty, the people deliberately sent this beauty to the palace to belittle your beauty.
What was said achieved its goal. And when the enraged queen began to take off her gloves, preparing to plunge her claws into the girl’s chest to tear out her heart, the girl softly remarked:
Your Majesty, which of the courtiers did your nails like that? Order me some small scissors, and I will immediately give you a manicure.
The Queen was taken aback. No one had ever spoken to her so cordially and simply. She graciously extended first left hand, and then right. In less than ten minutes, the claws turned into ordinary nails.
My faithful maid, burn these elk gloves and bring me my rings.
Wait, Your Majesty,” said the girl. - Rings will not go with this warlike outfit. You need to take off your helmet.
The courtiers fell on their faces. The army was on guard. Because no one has ever dared to talk to the queen in this way before.
And the girl, having said this, took off her helmet and confidently smoothed the raised stubble on the queen’s head. The stubble obediently lay under a kind hand and obediently allowed itself to be combed.*
“My maid of honor,” said the queen, turning to the girl, “order me to bring my crown.”
ABOUT! “Your Majesty,” the girl objected. - Will a crown suit you with dark glasses?
The court again fell on its face in fear. And the girl, taking off the queen’s dark glasses, said:
Your Majesty, try to look trustingly and kindly into my eyes.
And the queen did it. And again something amazing happened. The redness on the whites has disappeared. The eyes returned to their sockets. And there was no magic in it! The girl, like many people, knew that if you look for a long time with good, kind eyes into evil ones, then the evil eyes will definitely become kinder. It was this simple method that the brave girl used.
So the washerwoman’s daughter turned out to be the queen’s first maid of honor and a rather influential person at court.
Commoners and walkers from distant counties and duchies began to appear in the royal palace. The queen often listened to them, granting them some relief in taxes, exactions and corporal punishment.
All this embittered the uncrowned kings, and they formed a secret conspiracy against the young maid of honor. Having sent a ghost to the queen, they slandered the maid of honor and her hammer-killer groom.
It was a vile and terrible intrigue. It was that the maid of honor wanted to kill the queen and, having taken her throne, marry the hammerman, making him the first chancellor of the kingdom.
The animal in the queen awakened again. Her hair became coarser, an evil glare appeared in her eyes, and her nails began to grow. That same night she secretly went to the royal park, where her maid of honor met with the hammerman.
The queen, like a lynx, climbed up a tree and hid in its branches. The minutes of waiting slowly passed. But then a shadow flashed, and behind it another. The Queen heard the voice of her maid of honor.
“Darling,” she said to the hammerman, “I don’t know what else can be done to make our queen kinder.” I would not regret giving her my life, if only our poor people would live better.
Hearing this, the queen felt that her nails stopped growing and her eyes stopped getting bloodshot. She began to listen further.
“Darling,” said the hammerman, “give the queen your golden soft hair... He who has soft hair is not evil.”
Darling, but won't you stop loving me then?
Darling! Is your hair the most important thing about you? Be generous! People will not forget this service. People have been dreaming of a good king or a good queen for so long.
The next day the queen woke up and did not recognize herself. Delicate golden hair flowed down to her toes from her head, and the gray walls of the North Tower turned golden from their light.
On this day, four hundred prisoners were released. On this day, exactions and taxes were reduced by one tenth. On this day, the queen appeared in her palace with her head uncovered, and the young maid of honor covered her head with a large scarf for the first time.
In an old time, so long ago that no one knows when it was, there lived a mighty wizard, Gurricap. He lived in a country that much later was called America, and no one in the world could compare with Gurricap in the ability to work miracles. At first he was very proud of this and willingly fulfilled the requests of the people who came to him: he gave one a bow that could shoot without missing, he endowed another with such speed of running that he overtook a deer, and he gave the third invulnerability from animal fangs and claws.
This went on for many years, but then Gurricap got bored with people’s requests and gratitude, and he decided to settle in solitude, where no one would disturb him.
The wizard wandered for a long time around the continent, which did not yet have a name, and finally found a suitable place. It was an amazingly lovely country with dense forests, clear rivers irrigating green meadows, and wonderful fruit trees.
- That's what I need! – Gurricup was delighted. “Here I will live out my old age in peace.” We just need to make sure that people don’t come here.
For such a powerful sorcerer as Gurricap, this did not cost anything.
Once! - and the country was surrounded by a ring of inaccessible mountains.
Two! - behind the mountains lay the Great Sandy Desert, through which not a single person could pass.
Gurricup thought about what he still lacked.
– Let eternal summer reign here! - the wizard ordered, and his wish came true. – Let this country be Magical, and let all the animals and birds speak like humans here! - Gurricup exclaimed.
And immediately incessant chatter thundered everywhere: monkeys and bears, lions and tigers, sparrows and crows, woodpeckers and tits spoke. They all missed you long years silence and rushed to express their thoughts, feelings, desires to each other...
- Quiet! - the wizard ordered angrily, and the voices fell silent. “Now my quiet life without annoying people will begin,” said a satisfied Gurricap.
– You are mistaken, mighty wizard! – a voice rang out near Gurricup’s ear, and a lively magpie sat down on his shoulder. – Excuse me, please, but people live here, and there are a lot of them.
- Can't be! - cried the annoyed wizard. - Why didn’t I see them?
– You are very big, and in our country people are very small! – the magpie explained laughing and flew away.
And indeed: Gurricap was so large that his head was level with the tops of the tallest trees. His vision weakened with old age, and even the most skilled wizards did not know about glasses in those days.
Gurricap chose a vast clearing, lay down on the ground and fixed his gaze on the thicket of the forest. And there he could hardly make out many small figures timidly hiding behind the trees.
- Well, come here, little people! – the wizard ordered menacingly, and his voice sounded like a clap of thunder.
The little people came out onto the lawn and timidly looked at the giant.
- Who you are? – the wizard asked sternly.
“We are residents of this country, and we are not to blame for anything,” the people answered, trembling.
“I don’t blame you,” Gurricup said. “I should have looked carefully when choosing a place to live.”
But what's done is done, I won't change anything back. Let this country remain Magical forever and ever, and I will choose a more secluded corner for myself...
Gurricap went to the mountains, in an instant erected a magnificent palace for himself and settled there, severely punishing the inhabitants Fairyland don't even come close to his home.
This order was carried out for centuries, and then the wizard died, the palace fell into disrepair and gradually fell apart, but even then everyone was afraid to approach that place.
Then the memory of Gurricup was forgotten. The people who inhabited the country, cut off from the world, began to think that it had always been like this, that it was always surrounded by mountains around the world, that there was always a constant summer in it, that animals and birds always spoke humanly there...
Part one
Cave
A thousand years ago
The population of the Magic Land kept increasing, and the time came when several states were formed in it. In states, as usual, kings appeared, and under the kings, courtiers and numerous servants. Then the kings started armies, began to quarrel with each other over border possessions and started wars.
In one of the states, in the western part of the country, King Naranya reigned a thousand years ago. He ruled for so long that his son Bofaro got tired of waiting for his father to die, and he decided to overthrow him from the throne. With tempting promises, Prince Bofaro attracted several thousand supporters to his side, but they did not manage to do anything. The conspiracy was discovered. Prince Bofaro was brought to his father's trial. He sat on a high throne, surrounded by courtiers, and looked menacingly at the pale face of the rebel.
“Will you admit, my unworthy son, that you plotted against me?” - asked the king.
“I confess,” the prince answered boldly, without lowering his eyes in front of his father’s stern gaze.
“Perhaps you wanted to kill me in order to seize the throne?” – Naranya continued.
“No,” said Bofaro, “I didn’t want that.” Your fate would have been life imprisonment.
“Fate decided otherwise,” the king noted. “What you prepared for me will befall you and your followers.” Do you know the Cave?
The prince shuddered. Of course, he knew about the existence of a huge dungeon located deep below their kingdom. It happened that people looked in there, but after standing for several minutes at the entrance, seeing strange shadows of unprecedented animals on the ground and in the air, they returned in fear. It seemed impossible to live there.
– You and your supporters will go to the Cave for eternal settlement! – the king solemnly proclaimed, and even Bofaro’s enemies were horrified. - But this is not enough! Not only you, but also your children and your children's children - no one will return to earth, to blue sky And bright sun. My heirs will take care of this, I will take an oath from them that they will sacredly carry out my will. Maybe you want to object?
“No,” said Bofaro, as proud and unyielding as Naranya. “I deserve this punishment for daring to raise my hand against my father.” I will ask only one thing: let them give us agricultural tools.
“You will receive them,” said the king. “And you will even be provided with weapons so that you can defend yourself from the predators that inhabit the Cave.”
Sad columns of exiles, accompanied by weeping wives and children, went underground. The exit was guarded by a large detachment of soldiers, and not a single rebel could return back.
Bofaro and his wife and his two sons descended into the Cave first. An amazing Underground country opened up to their eyes. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and on its flat surface here and there rose low hills covered with forest. In the middle of the Cave the surface of a large round lake brightened.
It seemed that autumn reigned on the hills and meadows of the Underground Country. The foliage on the trees and bushes was crimson, pink, orange, and the meadow grasses turned yellow, as if asking for a mower’s scythe. It was dark in the Underground Country. Only the golden clouds swirling under the arch provided a little light.
- And this is where we should live? – Bofaro’s wife asked in horror.
“Such is our fate,” the prince answered gloomily.
Siege
The exiles walked for a long time until they reached the lake. Its banks were strewn with stones. Bofaro climbed onto a large piece of rock and raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to speak. Everyone froze in silence.
- My friends! - Bofaro began. - I am very sorry for you. My ambition got you into trouble and threw you under these dark arches. But you can’t turn back the past, and life better than death. We face a fierce struggle for existence, and we must elect a leader to lead us.
Loud cries rang out:
-You are our leader!
- We choose you, prince!
– You are a descendant of kings, it’s up to you to rule, Bofaro!
– Listen to me, people! - he spoke. “We deserve a rest, but we can’t rest yet.” As we walked through the Cave, I saw vague shadows of large animals watching us from afar.
- And we saw them! – others confirmed.
- Then let's get to work! Let the women put the children to bed and look after them, and let all the men build a fortification!
And Bofaro, setting an example, was the first to roll the stone towards the one drawn along the ground big circle. Forgetting about fatigue, people carried and rolled stones, and the round wall rose higher and higher.
Several hours passed, and the wall, wide, strong, was erected two human heights high.
“I think that’s enough for now,” said the king. “Then we will build a city here.”
Bofaro placed several men with bows and spears on guard, and all the other exiles, exhausted, went to bed in the alarming light of the golden clouds. Their sleep did not last long.
- Danger! Get up everyone! - the guards shouted.
Frightened people climbed onto the stone steps made with inside fortifications, and saw that several dozen strange animals were approaching their shelter.
- Six-legged! These monsters have six legs! - exclamations rang out.
And indeed, instead of four, the animals had six thick round paws that supported long round bodies. Their fur was dirty white, thick and shaggy. The six-legged creatures stared, as if spellbound, at the unexpectedly appeared fortress with large round eyes...
- What monsters! It’s good that we are protected by the wall,” people were talking.
The archers took up fighting positions. The animals approached, sniffing, peering, shaking their large heads with short ears with displeasure. Soon they came within shooting distance. Bowstrings rang, arrows whirred through the air and lodged in the shaggy fur of the animals. But they could not penetrate their thick skin, and the Six-Legs continued to approach, growling dully. Like all the animals of the Magic Land, they knew how to speak, but they spoke poorly, their tongues were too thick, and they could hardly move in their mouths.
- Don't waste arrows! - Bofaro ordered. – Prepare swords and spears! Women with children - to the middle of the fortification!
But the animals did not dare to attack. They surrounded the fortress with a ring and did not take their eyes off it. It was a real siege.
And then Bofaro realized his mistake. Unfamiliar with the customs of the inhabitants of the dungeon, he did not order water to be stocked, and now, if the siege was long, the defenders of the fortress were in danger of dying from thirst.
The lake was not far away - only a few dozen steps away, but how could you get there through a chain of enemies, agile and fast, despite the apparent clumsiness?..
Several hours passed. The children were the first to ask for a drink. It was in vain that their mothers reassured them. Bofaro was already preparing to make a desperate sortie.
Suddenly there was a noise in the air, and the besieged saw a flock of amazing creatures quickly approaching in the sky. They were a little reminiscent of the crocodiles that lived in the rivers of Fairyland, but they were much larger. These new monsters flapped huge leathery wings, strong clawed feet dangled under a dirty yellow scaly belly.
- We are dead! - the exiles shouted. - These are dragons! Not even a wall can save you from these flying creatures...
People covered their heads with their hands, expecting that terrible claws were about to plunge into them. But something unexpected happened. A flock of dragons rushed towards the Six-Legs with a squeal. They aimed at the eyes, and the animals, apparently accustomed to such attacks, tried to bury their muzzles in their chests and waved their front paws in front of them, standing up on their hind legs.
The screech of the dragons and the roar of the Six-Legged Ones deafened the people, but they looked with greedy curiosity at the unprecedented spectacle. Some of the Sixpaws curled up into a ball, and the dragons bit them furiously, tearing out huge clumps of white fur. One of the dragons, carelessly exposing its side to the blow of a powerful paw, could not take off and clumsily galloped along the sand...
Finally, the Six-Legs scattered, pursued by flying lizards. The women, grabbing jugs, ran to the lake, rushing to give water to the crying children.
Much later, when people settled down in the Cave, they learned the reason for the enmity between the Six-Legs and the dragons. Lizards laid eggs, burying them in warm ground in secluded places, and for animals these eggs were the best treat, they dug them up and devoured them. Therefore, the dragons attacked the Six-Legged Ones wherever they could. However, the lizards were not without sin: they killed young animals if they came across them without the protection of their parents.
So the enmity between animals and lizards saved people from death.
Morning of a new life
Years have passed. The exiles are accustomed to living underground. On the shores of the Middle Lake they built a city and surrounded it stone wall. To feed themselves, they began to plow the land and sow grain. The cave lay so deep that the soil in it was warm, warmed by underground heat. There were occasional showers of golden clouds. And therefore the wheat still ripened there, although more slowly than above. But it was very difficult for people to carry heavy plows on themselves, plowing up the hard rocky ground.
And one day the elderly hunter Karum came to King Bofaro.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “the plowmen will soon begin to die from overwork.” And I propose to harness the Six-Legs to the plows.
The king was amazed.
- Yes, they will kill the drivers!
“I can tame them,” Karum assured. “Up there, I had to deal with the most terrible predators.” And I always managed.
- Well, act! – Bofaro agreed. -You probably need help?
“Yes,” said the hunter. – But, besides people, I will involve dragons in this matter.
The king was surprised again, and Karum calmly explained:
– You see, we humans are weaker than both the Six-Legged and the flying lizards, but we have intelligence, which these animals lack. I will tame the Six-Legs with the help of dragons, and the Six-Legs will help me keep the dragons in subjection.
Karum got down to business. His people took away young dragons as soon as they had time to hatch from their eggs. Raised by people from the first day, the lizards grew obedient, and with their assistance, Karum managed to catch the first batch of Six-Legs.
It was not easy to subdue the ferocious beasts, but it was possible. After a multi-day hunger strike, the Six-Legs began to accept food from humans, and then they allowed them to put on harnesses and began to pull plows.
At first there were some accidents, but then everything got better. Hand dragons carried people through the air, and Six-Legged Dragons plowed the earth. People breathed more freely, and their crafts began to develop faster.
Weavers wove fabrics, tailors sewed clothes, potters sculpted pots, miners extracted ore from deep mines, foundries smelted metals from it, and metalworkers and turners made all the necessary products from metals.
Mining ores required the most labor; many people worked in the mines, and therefore this area began to be called the Country of Underground Miners.
The underground inhabitants had to rely only on themselves, and they became extremely inventive and resourceful. People began to forget about the upper world, and children born in the Cave never saw it and knew about it only from mother's stories, which finally began to resemble fairy tales...
Life was getting better. The only bad thing was that the ambitious Bofaro had a large staff of courtiers and numerous servants, and the people had to support these loafers.
And although the plowmen diligently plowed, sowed and collected grain, the gardeners cultivated vegetables, and the fishermen caught fish and crabs in the Middle Lake with nets, food soon became scarce. Underground miners had to establish barter trade with the upper inhabitants.
In exchange for grain, oil and fruit, the inhabitants of the Cave gave their products: copper and bronze, iron plows and harrows, glass, precious stones.
Trade between the lower and upper worlds gradually expanded. The place where it was produced was the exit from the underworld to the Blue Country. This exit, located near the eastern border of the Blue Country, was closed by a strong gate by order of the King of Naranya. After the death of Naranya, the outer guard from the gate was removed, because the underground miners did not try to return to the top: after many years of living underground, the eyes of the cave dwellers had become unaccustomed to sunlight, and now miners could only appear above at night.
The midnight sound of a bell hanging at the gate announced the onset of another market day. In the morning, the merchants of the Blue Country checked and counted the goods carried out by the underground inhabitants at night. After that, hundreds of workers brought bags of flour, baskets of fruits and vegetables, boxes of eggs, butter, and cheese in wheelbarrows. The next night it all disappeared.
Testament of King Bofaro
Bofaro reigned in the underground country for many years. He descended into it with two sons, but then he had five more. Bofaro loved his children very much and could not choose an heir from them. It seemed to him that if he appointed one of his sons as his successor, he would terribly offend the others.
Bofaro changed his will seventeen times and finally, exhausted by the squabbles and intrigues of the heirs, came to an idea that brought him peace. He appointed all his seven sons as heirs, so that they reigned in turn, each for a month. And in order to avoid quarrels and civil strife, he forced the children to take an oath that they would always live in peace and strictly observe the order of government.
The oath did not help: strife began immediately after the death of his father. The brothers argued about which of them should reign first.
- The order of government should be established by height. “I am the tallest, and therefore I will reign first,” said Prince Vagissa.
“Nothing like that,” objected fat Gramento. - Whoever weighs more has the same more intelligence. Let's weigh in!
“You have a lot of fat, but not intelligence,” cried Prince Tubago. “The affairs of the kingdom are best handled by the strongest.” Well, go three against one! – And Tubago waved his huge fists.
A fight ensued. As a result, some of the brothers were missing teeth, others had black eyes, dislocated arms and legs...
Having fought and made peace, the princes were surprised why it did not occur to them that the most indisputable order was to rule the kingdom by seniority.
Having established the order of government, seven underground kings decided to build themselves a common palace, but so that each brother would have separate part. Architects and masons erected a huge seven-tower building on the city square with seven separate entrances to the chambers of each king.
The oldest inhabitants of the Cave still retained the memory of the wonderful rainbow that shone in the sky of their lost homeland. And they decided to preserve this rainbow for their descendants on the walls of the palace. Its seven towers were painted in the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow... Skillful craftsmen ensured that the tones were amazingly pure and not inferior to the colors of the rainbow.
Each king chose as his main color the color of the tower where he settled. So, in the green chambers everything was green: the king’s ceremonial attire, the clothes of the courtiers, the footmen’s livery, the coloring of the furniture. In the purple chambers everything was purple... The colors were divided by lot.
In the underworld there was no change of days and nights and time was measured by an hourglass. Therefore, it was decided that the correct rotation of kings should be monitored by special nobles - the Keepers of Time.
King Bofaro's will had bad consequences. It began with the fact that each king, suspecting the others of hostile designs, got himself armed guards. These guards rode on dragons. So each king had flying overseers who monitored work in the fields and factories. Warriors and overseers, like courtiers and lackeys, had to feed the people.
Another problem was that there were no firm laws in the country. Its inhabitants did not have time to get used to the demands of one king in a month before others appeared in his place. Greetings especially caused a lot of trouble.
One king required people to kneel when meeting him, and another had to be greeted by placing his left hand with outstretched fingers to his nose and waving his right hand above his head. Before the third one you had to jump on one leg...
Each ruler tried to come up with something weirder that other kings would not have thought of. A underground inhabitants they groaned at such inventions.
Each inhabitant of the Cave had a set of caps in all seven colors of the rainbow, and on the day of the change of rulers it was necessary to change the cap. This was closely watched by the warriors of the king who ascended the throne.
The kings agreed on one thing only: they came up with new taxes.
People worked hard to satisfy the whims of their overlords, and there were many of these whims.
Each king, upon ascending the throne, gave a magnificent feast, to which the courtiers of all seven rulers were invited to the Rainbow Palace. The birthdays of the kings, their wives and heirs were celebrated, successful hunts were celebrated, the birth of little dragons in the royal dragons and much, much more... Rarely did the palace not hear the exclamations of the feasters, treating each other with the wine of the upper world and glorifying the next ruler.
Alexander Volkov
SEVEN UNDERGROUND KINGS
Fairy Tale
INTRODUCTION
HOW THE MAGICAL COUNTRY APPEARED
In an old time, so long ago that no one knows when it was, there lived a mighty wizard, Gurricap. He lived in a country that much later was called America, and no one in the world could compare with Gurricap in the ability to work miracles. At first he was very proud of this and willingly fulfilled the requests of the people who came to him: he gave one a bow that could shoot without missing, he endowed another with such speed of running that he overtook a deer, and he gave the third invulnerability from animal fangs and claws.
This went on for many years, but then Gurricap got bored with people’s requests and gratitude, and he decided to settle in solitude, where no one would disturb him.
The wizard wandered for a long time around the continent, which did not yet have a name, and finally found a suitable place. It was an amazingly lovely country with dense forests, clear rivers irrigating green meadows, and wonderful fruit trees.
That's what I need! - Gurricup was happy. “Here I will live out my old age in peace.” We just need to make sure that people don’t come here.
It cost nothing to such a powerful sorcerer like Gurricap. Once! - and the country was surrounded by a ring of inaccessible mountains. Two! - behind the mountains lay the Great Sandy Desert, through which not a single person could pass.
Gurricup thought about what he still lacked.
Let eternal summer reign here! - the wizard ordered, and his wish came true. - Let this country be Magical, and let all the animals and birds speak like humans here! - Gurricup exclaimed.
And immediately incessant chatter thundered everywhere: monkeys and bears, lions and tigers, sparrows and crows, woodpeckers and tits spoke. They all got bored over the long years of silence and were in a hurry to express their thoughts, feelings, desires to each other...
Quiet! - the wizard ordered angrily, and the voices fell silent. “Now my quiet life without annoying people will begin,” said a satisfied Gurricap.
You are mistaken, mighty wizard! - a voice rang out near Gurricup’s ear, and a lively magpie sat down on his shoulder. - Excuse me, please, but people live here, and there are quite a few of them.
Can't be! - cried the annoyed wizard. - Why didn’t I see them?
You are very big, and in our country people are very small! - the magpie explained laughing and flew away.
And indeed: Gurricap was so large that his head was level with the tops of the tallest trees. His vision weakened with old age, and even the most skilled wizards did not know about glasses in those days.
Gurricap chose a vast clearing, lay down on the ground and fixed his gaze on the thicket of the forest. And there he could hardly make out many small figures timidly hiding behind the trees.
Well, come here, little people! - the wizard ordered menacingly, and his voice sounded like a clap of thunder.
The little people came out onto the lawn and timidly looked at the giant.
Who you are? - the wizard asked sternly.
“We are residents of this country, and we are not to blame for anything,” the people answered, trembling.
“I don’t blame you,” Gurricup said. - I had to look carefully when choosing a place to live. But what's done is done, I won't change anything back. Let this country remain Magical forever and ever, and I will choose a more secluded corner for myself...
Gurricap went to the mountains, in an instant erected a magnificent palace for himself and settled there, strictly ordering the inhabitants of the Magic Land not to even come close to his home.
This order was carried out for centuries, and then the wizard died, the palace fell into disrepair and gradually fell apart, but even then everyone was afraid to approach that place.
Then the memory of Gurricup was forgotten. The people who inhabited the country, cut off from the world, began to think that it had always been like this, that it was always surrounded by mountains around the world, that there was always a constant summer in it, that animals and birds always spoke humanly there...
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO
The population of the Magic Land kept increasing, and the time came when several states were formed in it. In states, as usual, kings appeared, and under the kings, courtiers and numerous servants. Then the kings started armies, began to quarrel with each other over border possessions and started wars.
In one of the states, in the western part of the country, King Naranya reigned a thousand years ago. He ruled for so long that his son Bofaro got tired of waiting for his father to die, and he decided to overthrow him from the throne. With tempting promises, Prince Bofaro attracted several thousand supporters to his side, but they did not manage to do anything. The conspiracy was discovered. Prince Bofaro was brought to his father's trial. He sat on a high throne, surrounded by courtiers, and looked menacingly at the pale face of the rebel.
Will you admit, my unworthy son, that you plotted against me? - asked the king.
“I confess,” the prince answered boldly, without lowering his eyes in front of his father’s stern gaze.
Maybe you wanted to kill me to take over the throne? - Naranya continued.
No,” said Bofaro, “I didn’t want that.” Your fate would have been life imprisonment.
“Fate decided otherwise,” the king noted. - What you prepared for me will befall you and your followers. Do you know the Cave?
The prince shuddered. Of course, he knew about the existence of a huge dungeon located deep below their kingdom. It happened that people looked in there, but after standing for several minutes at the entrance, seeing strange shadows of unprecedented animals on the ground and in the air, they returned in fear. It seemed impossible to live there.
You and your supporters will go to the Cave for an eternal settlement! - the king solemnly exclaimed, and even Bofaro’s enemies were horrified. - But this is not enough! Not only you, but also your children and your children's children - no one will return to the earth, to the blue sky and the bright sun. My heirs will take care of this, I will take an oath from them that they will sacredly carry out my will. Maybe you want to object?
No,” said Bofaro, as proud and unyielding as Naranya. “I deserve this punishment for daring to raise my hand against my father.” I will ask only one thing: let them give us agricultural tools.
“You will receive them,” said the king. - And you will even be provided with weapons so that you can defend yourself from the predators that inhabit the Cave.
Current page: 1 (book has 11 pages total) [available reading passage: 8 pages]
Alexander Volkov
Seven Underground Kings
Introduction
How did the magical land appear?
In an old time, so long ago that no one knows when it was, there lived a mighty wizard, Gurricap. He lived in a country that much later was called America, and no one in the world could compare with Gurricap in the ability to work miracles. At first he was very proud of this and willingly fulfilled the requests of the people who came to him: he gave one a bow that could shoot without missing, he endowed another with such speed of running that he overtook a deer, and he gave the third invulnerability from animal fangs and claws.
This went on for many years, but then Gurricap got bored with people’s requests and gratitude, and he decided to settle in solitude, where no one would disturb him.
The wizard wandered for a long time around the continent, which did not yet have a name, and finally found a suitable place. It was an amazingly lovely country with dense forests, clear rivers irrigating green meadows, and wonderful fruit trees.
- That's what I need! – Gurricup was delighted. “Here I will live out my old age in peace.” We just need to make sure that people don’t come here.
For such a powerful sorcerer as Gurricap, this did not cost anything.
Once! - and the country was surrounded by a ring of inaccessible mountains.
Two! - behind the mountains lay the Great Sandy Desert, through which not a single person could pass.
Gurricup thought about what he still lacked.
– Let eternal summer reign here! - the wizard ordered, and his wish came true. – Let this country be Magical, and let all the animals and birds speak like humans here! - Gurricup exclaimed.
And immediately incessant chatter thundered everywhere: monkeys and bears, lions and tigers, sparrows and crows, woodpeckers and tits spoke. They all got bored over the long years of silence and were in a hurry to express their thoughts, feelings, desires to each other...
- Quiet! - the wizard ordered angrily, and the voices fell silent. “Now my quiet life without annoying people will begin,” said a satisfied Gurricap.
– You are mistaken, mighty wizard! – a voice rang out near Gurricup’s ear, and a lively magpie sat down on his shoulder. – Excuse me, please, but people live here, and there are a lot of them.
- Can't be! - cried the annoyed wizard. - Why didn’t I see them?
– You are very big, and in our country people are very small! – the magpie explained laughing and flew away.
And indeed: Gurricap was so large that his head was level with the tops of the tallest trees. His vision weakened with old age, and even the most skilled wizards did not know about glasses in those days.
Gurricap chose a vast clearing, lay down on the ground and fixed his gaze on the thicket of the forest. And there he could hardly make out many small figures timidly hiding behind the trees.
- Well, come here, little people! – the wizard ordered menacingly, and his voice sounded like a clap of thunder.
The little people came out onto the lawn and timidly looked at the giant.
- Who you are? – the wizard asked sternly.
“We are residents of this country, and we are not to blame for anything,” the people answered, trembling.
“I don’t blame you,” Gurricup said. “I should have looked carefully when choosing a place to live.” But what's done is done, I won't change anything back. Let this country remain Magical forever and ever, and I will choose a more secluded corner for myself...
Gurricap went to the mountains, in an instant erected a magnificent palace for himself and settled there, strictly ordering the inhabitants of the Magic Land not to even come close to his home.
This order was carried out for centuries, and then the wizard died, the palace fell into disrepair and gradually fell apart, but even then everyone was afraid to approach that place.
Then the memory of Gurricup was forgotten. The people who inhabited the country, cut off from the world, began to think that it had always been like this, that it was always surrounded by mountains around the world, that there was always a constant summer in it, that animals and birds always spoke humanly there...
Part one
Cave
A thousand years ago
The population of the Magic Land kept increasing, and the time came when several states were formed in it. In states, as usual, kings appeared, and under the kings, courtiers and numerous servants. Then the kings started armies, began to quarrel with each other over border possessions and started wars.
In one of the states, in the western part of the country, King Naranya reigned a thousand years ago. He ruled for so long that his son Bofaro got tired of waiting for his father to die, and he decided to overthrow him from the throne. With tempting promises, Prince Bofaro attracted several thousand supporters to his side, but they did not manage to do anything. The conspiracy was discovered. Prince Bofaro was brought to his father's trial. He sat on a high throne, surrounded by courtiers, and looked menacingly at the pale face of the rebel.
“Will you admit, my unworthy son, that you plotted against me?” - asked the king.
“I confess,” the prince answered boldly, without lowering his eyes in front of his father’s stern gaze.
“Perhaps you wanted to kill me in order to seize the throne?” – Naranya continued.
“No,” said Bofaro, “I didn’t want that.” Your fate would have been life imprisonment.
“Fate decided otherwise,” the king noted. “What you prepared for me will befall you and your followers.” Do you know the Cave?
The prince shuddered. Of course, he knew about the existence of a huge dungeon located deep below their kingdom. It happened that people looked in there, but after standing for several minutes at the entrance, seeing strange shadows of unprecedented animals on the ground and in the air, they returned in fear. It seemed impossible to live there.
– You and your supporters will go to the Cave for eternal settlement! – the king solemnly proclaimed, and even Bofaro’s enemies were horrified. - But this is not enough! Not only you, but also your children and your children’s children - no one will return to the earth, to the blue sky and the bright sun. My heirs will take care of this, I will take an oath from them that they will sacredly carry out my will. Maybe you want to object?
“No,” said Bofaro, as proud and unyielding as Naranya. “I deserve this punishment for daring to raise my hand against my father.” I will ask only one thing: let them give us agricultural tools.
“You will receive them,” said the king. “And you will even be provided with weapons so that you can defend yourself from the predators that inhabit the Cave.”
Sad columns of exiles, accompanied by weeping wives and children, went underground. The exit was guarded by a large detachment of soldiers, and not a single rebel could return back.
Bofaro and his wife and his two sons descended into the Cave first. An amazing Underground country opened up to their eyes. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and on its flat surface here and there rose low hills covered with forest. In the middle of the Cave the surface of a large round lake brightened.
It seemed that autumn reigned on the hills and meadows of the Underground Country. The foliage on the trees and bushes was crimson, pink, orange, and the meadow grasses turned yellow, as if asking for a mower’s scythe. It was dark in the Underground Country. Only the golden clouds swirling under the arch provided a little light.
- And this is where we should live? – Bofaro’s wife asked in horror.
“Such is our fate,” the prince answered gloomily.
Siege
The exiles walked for a long time until they reached the lake. Its banks were strewn with stones. Bofaro climbed onto a large piece of rock and raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to speak. Everyone froze in silence.
- My friends! - Bofaro began. - I am very sorry for you. My ambition got you into trouble and threw you under these dark arches. But you cannot undo the past, and life is better than death. We face a fierce struggle for existence, and we must elect a leader to lead us.
Loud cries rang out:
-You are our leader!
- We choose you, prince!
– You are a descendant of kings, it’s up to you to rule, Bofaro!
– Listen to me, people! - he spoke. “We deserve a rest, but we can’t rest yet.” As we walked through the Cave, I saw vague shadows of large animals watching us from afar.
- And we saw them! – others confirmed.
- Then let's get to work! Let the women put the children to bed and look after them, and let all the men build a fortification!
And Bofaro, setting an example, was the first to roll the stone towards a large circle drawn on the ground. Forgetting about fatigue, people carried and rolled stones, and the round wall rose higher and higher.
Several hours passed, and the wall, wide, strong, was erected two human heights high.
“I think that’s enough for now,” said the king. “Then we will build a city here.”
Bofaro placed several men with bows and spears on guard, and all the other exiles, exhausted, went to bed in the alarming light of the golden clouds. Their sleep did not last long.
- Danger! Get up everyone! - the guards shouted.
Frightened people climbed onto the stone steps made on the inside of the fortification and saw that several dozen strange animals were approaching their shelter.
- Six-legged! These monsters have six legs! - exclamations rang out.
And indeed, instead of four, the animals had six thick round paws that supported long round bodies. Their fur was dirty white, thick and shaggy. The six-legged creatures stared, as if spellbound, at the unexpectedly appeared fortress with large round eyes...
- What monsters! It’s good that we are protected by the wall,” people were talking.
The archers took up fighting positions. The animals approached, sniffing, peering, shaking their large heads with short ears with displeasure. Soon they came within shooting distance. Bowstrings rang, arrows whirred through the air and lodged in the shaggy fur of the animals. But they could not penetrate their thick skin, and the Six-Legs continued to approach, growling dully. Like all the animals of the Magic Land, they knew how to speak, but they spoke poorly, their tongues were too thick, and they could hardly move in their mouths.
- Don't waste arrows! - Bofaro ordered. – Prepare swords and spears! Women with children - to the middle of the fortification!
But the animals did not dare to attack. They surrounded the fortress with a ring and did not take their eyes off it. It was a real siege.
And then Bofaro realized his mistake. Unfamiliar with the customs of the inhabitants of the dungeon, he did not order water to be stocked, and now, if the siege was long, the defenders of the fortress were in danger of dying from thirst.
The lake was not far away - only a few dozen steps away, but how could you get there through a chain of enemies, agile and fast, despite the apparent clumsiness?..
Several hours passed. The children were the first to ask for a drink. It was in vain that their mothers reassured them. Bofaro was already preparing to make a desperate sortie.
Suddenly there was a noise in the air, and the besieged saw a flock of amazing creatures quickly approaching in the sky. They were a little reminiscent of the crocodiles that lived in the rivers of Fairyland, but they were much larger. These new monsters flapped huge leathery wings, strong clawed feet dangled under a dirty yellow scaly belly.
- We are dead! - the exiles shouted. - These are dragons! Not even a wall can save you from these flying creatures...
People covered their heads with their hands, expecting that terrible claws were about to plunge into them. But something unexpected happened. A flock of dragons rushed towards the Six-Legs with a squeal. They aimed at the eyes, and the animals, apparently accustomed to such attacks, tried to bury their muzzles in their chests and waved their front paws in front of them, standing up on their hind legs.
The screech of the dragons and the roar of the Six-Legged Ones deafened the people, but they looked with greedy curiosity at the unprecedented spectacle. Some of the Sixpaws curled up into a ball, and the dragons bit them furiously, tearing out huge clumps of white fur. One of the dragons, carelessly exposing its side to the blow of a powerful paw, could not take off and clumsily galloped along the sand...
Finally, the Six-Legs scattered, pursued by flying lizards. The women, grabbing jugs, ran to the lake, rushing to give water to the crying children.
Much later, when people settled down in the Cave, they learned the reason for the enmity between the Six-Legs and the dragons. The lizards laid eggs, burying them in warm ground in secluded places, and for the animals these eggs were the best delicacy; they dug them up and devoured them. Therefore, the dragons attacked the Six-Legged Ones wherever they could. However, the lizards were not without sin: they killed young animals if they came across them without the protection of their parents.
So the enmity between animals and lizards saved people from death.
Morning of a new life
Years have passed. The exiles are accustomed to living underground. On the shores of the Middle Lake they built a city and surrounded it with a stone wall. To feed themselves, they began to plow the land and sow grain. The cave lay so deep that the soil in it was warm, warmed by underground heat. There were occasional showers of golden clouds. And therefore the wheat still ripened there, although more slowly than above. But it was very difficult for people to carry heavy plows on themselves, plowing up the hard rocky ground.
And one day the elderly hunter Karum came to King Bofaro.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “the plowmen will soon begin to die from overwork.” And I propose to harness the Six-Legs to the plows.
The king was amazed.
- Yes, they will kill the drivers!
“I can tame them,” Karum assured. “Up there, I had to deal with the most terrible predators.” And I always managed.
- Well, act! – Bofaro agreed. -You probably need help?
“Yes,” said the hunter. – But, besides people, I will involve dragons in this matter.
The king was surprised again, and Karum calmly explained:
– You see, we humans are weaker than both the Six-Legged and the flying lizards, but we have intelligence, which these animals lack. I will tame the Six-Legs with the help of dragons, and the Six-Legs will help me keep the dragons in subjection.
Karum got down to business. His people took away young dragons as soon as they had time to hatch from their eggs. Raised by people from the first day, the lizards grew up obedient, and with their assistance, Karum managed to catch the first batch of Six-Legs.
It was not easy to subdue the ferocious beasts, but it was possible. After a multi-day hunger strike, the Six-Legs began to accept food from humans, and then they allowed them to put on harnesses and began to pull plows.
At first there were some accidents, but then everything got better. Hand dragons carried people through the air, and Six-Legged Dragons plowed the earth. People breathed more freely, and their crafts began to develop faster.
Weavers wove fabrics, tailors sewed clothes, potters sculpted pots, miners extracted ore from deep mines, foundries smelted metals from it, and metalworkers and turners made all the necessary products from metals.
Mining ores required the most labor; many people worked in the mines, and therefore this area began to be called the Country of Underground Miners.
The underground inhabitants had to rely only on themselves, and they became extremely inventive and resourceful. People began to forget about the upper world, and children born in the Cave never saw it and knew about it only from their mother’s stories, which finally began to resemble fairy tales...
Life was getting better. The only bad thing was that the ambitious Bofaro had a large staff of courtiers and numerous servants, and the people had to support these loafers.
And although the plowmen diligently plowed, sowed and collected grain, the gardeners cultivated vegetables, and the fishermen caught fish and crabs in the Middle Lake with nets, food soon became scarce. Underground miners had to establish barter trade with the upper inhabitants.
In exchange for grain, oil and fruit, the inhabitants of the Cave gave their products: copper and bronze, iron plows and harrows, glass, precious stones.
Trade between the lower and upper worlds gradually expanded. The place where it was produced was the exit from the underworld to the Blue Country. This exit, located near the eastern border of the Blue Country, was closed by a strong gate by order of the King of Naranya. After the death of Naranya, the outer guard from the gate was removed because the underground miners did not try to return to the top: after many years of living underground, the eyes of the cave dwellers had become unaccustomed to sunlight, and now the miners could only appear above at night.
The midnight sound of a bell hanging at the gate announced the onset of another market day. In the morning, the merchants of the Blue Country checked and counted the goods carried out by the underground inhabitants at night. After that, hundreds of workers brought bags of flour, baskets of fruits and vegetables, boxes of eggs, butter, and cheese in wheelbarrows. The next night it all disappeared.
Testament of King Bofaro
Bofaro reigned in the underground country for many years. He descended into it with two sons, but then he had five more. Bofaro loved his children very much and could not choose an heir from them. It seemed to him that if he appointed one of his sons as his successor, he would terribly offend the others.
Bofaro changed his will seventeen times and finally, exhausted by the squabbles and intrigues of the heirs, came to an idea that brought him peace. He appointed all his seven sons as heirs, so that they reigned in turn, each for a month. And in order to avoid quarrels and civil strife, he forced the children to take an oath that they would always live in peace and strictly observe the order of government.
The oath did not help: strife began immediately after the death of his father. The brothers argued about which of them should reign first.
- The order of government should be established by height. “I am the tallest, and therefore I will reign first,” said Prince Vagissa.
“Nothing like that,” objected fat Gramento. - He who weighs more has more intelligence. Let's weigh in!
“You have a lot of fat, but not intelligence,” cried Prince Tubago. “The affairs of the kingdom are best handled by the strongest.” Well, go three against one! – And Tubago waved his huge fists.
A fight ensued. As a result, some of the brothers were missing teeth, others had black eyes, dislocated arms and legs...
Having fought and made peace, the princes were surprised why it did not occur to them that the most indisputable order was to rule the kingdom by seniority.
Having established the order of government, the seven underground kings decided to build themselves a common palace, but so that each brother had a separate part. Architects and masons erected a huge seven-tower building on the city square with seven separate entrances to the chambers of each king.
The oldest inhabitants of the Cave still retained the memory of the wonderful rainbow that shone in the sky of their lost homeland. And they decided to preserve this rainbow for their descendants on the walls of the palace. Its seven towers were painted in the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow... Skillful craftsmen ensured that the tones were amazingly pure and not inferior to the colors of the rainbow.
Each king chose as his main color the color of the tower where he settled. So, in the green chambers everything was green: the king’s ceremonial attire, the clothes of the courtiers, the footmen’s livery, the coloring of the furniture. In the purple chambers everything was purple... The colors were divided by lot.
In the underworld there was no change of days and nights and time was measured by an hourglass. Therefore, it was decided that the correct rotation of kings should be monitored by special nobles - the Keepers of Time.
King Bofaro's will had bad consequences. It began with the fact that each king, suspecting the others of hostile designs, got himself armed guards. These guards rode on dragons. So each king had flying overseers who monitored work in the fields and factories. Warriors and overseers, like courtiers and lackeys, had to feed the people.
Another problem was that there were no firm laws in the country. Its inhabitants did not have time to get used to the demands of one king in a month before others appeared in his place. Greetings especially caused a lot of trouble.
One king required people to kneel when meeting him, and another had to be greeted by placing his left hand with outstretched fingers to his nose and waving his right hand above his head. Before the third one you had to jump on one leg...
Each ruler tried to come up with something weirder that other kings would not have thought of. And the underground inhabitants groaned at such inventions.
Each inhabitant of the Cave had a set of caps in all seven colors of the rainbow, and on the day of the change of rulers it was necessary to change the cap. This was closely watched by the warriors of the king who ascended the throne.
The kings agreed on one thing only: they came up with new taxes.
People worked hard to satisfy the whims of their overlords, and there were many of these whims.
Each king, upon ascending the throne, gave a magnificent feast, to which the courtiers of all seven rulers were invited to the Rainbow Palace. The birthdays of the kings, their wives and heirs were celebrated, successful hunts were celebrated, the birth of little dragons in the royal dragons and much, much more... Rarely did the palace not hear the exclamations of the feasters, treating each other with the wine of the upper world and glorifying the next ruler.
Alexander Volkov
Seven Underground Kings
Introduction
How did the magical land appear?
In an old time, so long ago that no one knows when it was, there lived a mighty wizard, Gurricap. He lived in a country that much later was called America, and no one in the world could compare with Gurricap in the ability to work miracles. At first he was very proud of this and willingly fulfilled the requests of the people who came to him: he gave one a bow that could shoot without missing, he endowed another with such speed of running that he overtook a deer, and he gave the third invulnerability from animal fangs and claws.
This went on for many years, but then Gurricap got bored with people’s requests and gratitude, and he decided to settle in solitude, where no one would disturb him.
The wizard wandered for a long time around the continent, which did not yet have a name, and finally found a suitable place. It was an amazingly lovely country with dense forests, clear rivers irrigating green meadows, and wonderful fruit trees.
- That's what I need! – Gurricup was delighted. “Here I will live out my old age in peace.” We just need to make sure that people don’t come here.
For such a powerful sorcerer as Gurricap, this did not cost anything.
Once! - and the country was surrounded by a ring of inaccessible mountains.
Two! - behind the mountains lay the Great Sandy Desert, through which not a single person could pass.
Gurricup thought about what he still lacked.
– Let eternal summer reign here! - the wizard ordered, and his wish came true. – Let this country be Magical, and let all the animals and birds speak like humans here! - Gurricup exclaimed.
And immediately incessant chatter thundered everywhere: monkeys and bears, lions and tigers, sparrows and crows, woodpeckers and tits spoke. They all got bored over the long years of silence and were in a hurry to express their thoughts, feelings, desires to each other...
- Quiet! - the wizard ordered angrily, and the voices fell silent. “Now my quiet life without annoying people will begin,” said a satisfied Gurricap.
– You are mistaken, mighty wizard! – a voice rang out near Gurricup’s ear, and a lively magpie sat down on his shoulder. – Excuse me, please, but people live here, and there are a lot of them.
- Can't be! - cried the annoyed wizard. - Why didn’t I see them?
– You are very big, and in our country people are very small! – the magpie explained laughing and flew away.
And indeed: Gurricap was so large that his head was level with the tops of the tallest trees. His vision weakened with old age, and even the most skilled wizards did not know about glasses in those days.
Gurricap chose a vast clearing, lay down on the ground and fixed his gaze on the thicket of the forest. And there he could hardly make out many small figures timidly hiding behind the trees.
- Well, come here, little people! – the wizard ordered menacingly, and his voice sounded like a clap of thunder.
The little people came out onto the lawn and timidly looked at the giant.
- Who you are? – the wizard asked sternly.
“We are residents of this country, and we are not to blame for anything,” the people answered, trembling.
“I don’t blame you,” Gurricup said. “I should have looked carefully when choosing a place to live.” But what's done is done, I won't change anything back. Let this country remain Magical forever and ever, and I will choose a more secluded corner for myself...
Gurricap went to the mountains, in an instant erected a magnificent palace for himself and settled there, strictly ordering the inhabitants of the Magic Land not to even come close to his home.
This order was carried out for centuries, and then the wizard died, the palace fell into disrepair and gradually fell apart, but even then everyone was afraid to approach that place.
Then the memory of Gurricup was forgotten. The people who inhabited the country, cut off from the world, began to think that it had always been like this, that it was always surrounded by mountains around the world, that there was always a constant summer in it, that animals and birds always spoke humanly there...
Part one
A thousand years ago
The population of the Magic Land kept increasing, and the time came when several states were formed in it. In states, as usual, kings appeared, and under the kings, courtiers and numerous servants. Then the kings started armies, began to quarrel with each other over border possessions and started wars.
In one of the states, in the western part of the country, King Naranya reigned a thousand years ago. He ruled for so long that his son Bofaro got tired of waiting for his father to die, and he decided to overthrow him from the throne. With tempting promises, Prince Bofaro attracted several thousand supporters to his side, but they did not manage to do anything. The conspiracy was discovered. Prince Bofaro was brought to his father's trial. He sat on a high throne, surrounded by courtiers, and looked menacingly at the pale face of the rebel.
“Will you admit, my unworthy son, that you plotted against me?” - asked the king.
“I confess,” the prince answered boldly, without lowering his eyes in front of his father’s stern gaze.
“Perhaps you wanted to kill me in order to seize the throne?” – Naranya continued.
“No,” said Bofaro, “I didn’t want that.” Your fate would have been life imprisonment.
“Fate decided otherwise,” the king noted. “What you prepared for me will befall you and your followers.” Do you know the Cave?
The prince shuddered. Of course, he knew about the existence of a huge dungeon located deep below their kingdom. It happened that people looked in there, but after standing for several minutes at the entrance, seeing strange shadows of unprecedented animals on the ground and in the air, they returned in fear. It seemed impossible to live there.
– You and your supporters will go to the Cave for eternal settlement! – the king solemnly proclaimed, and even Bofaro’s enemies were horrified. - But this is not enough! Not only you, but also your children and your children’s children - no one will return to the earth, to the blue sky and the bright sun. My heirs will take care of this, I will take an oath from them that they will sacredly carry out my will. Maybe you want to object?
“No,” said Bofaro, as proud and unyielding as Naranya. “I deserve this punishment for daring to raise my hand against my father.” I will ask only one thing: let them give us agricultural tools.
“You will receive them,” said the king. “And you will even be provided with weapons so that you can defend yourself from the predators that inhabit the Cave.”
Sad columns of exiles, accompanied by weeping wives and children, went underground. The exit was guarded by a large detachment of soldiers, and not a single rebel could return back.
Bofaro and his wife and his two sons descended into the Cave first. An amazing Underground country opened up to their eyes. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and on its flat surface here and there rose low hills covered with forest. In the middle of the Cave the surface of a large round lake brightened.
It seemed that autumn reigned on the hills and meadows of the Underground Country. The foliage on the trees and bushes was crimson, pink, orange, and the meadow grasses turned yellow, as if asking for a mower’s scythe. It was dark in the Underground Country. Only the golden clouds swirling under the arch provided a little light.
- And this is where we should live? – Bofaro’s wife asked in horror.
“Such is our fate,” the prince answered gloomily.
The exiles walked for a long time until they reached the lake. Its banks were strewn with stones. Bofaro climbed onto a large piece of rock and raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to speak. Everyone froze in silence.