little daughter of the Woodcutter came to him. She put her hand upon his shoulder and said,
‘You lost your beauty – it does not matter[12]. Stay with us, and I will not mock at you.’
And he said to her,
‘No, I was cruel to my mother, and this evil is a punishment. I must go and wander through the world till I find her. I hope she will give me her forgiveness.’
So he ran away into the forest and called out to his mother to come to him, but there was no answer. All day long he called to her, and, when the sun set he lay down to sleep on a bed of leaves. The birds and the animals fled from him. They remembered his cruelty. He was alone save for the toad and the adder that watched him.
In the morning he rose up, and plucked some bitter berries from the trees and ate them. After that he went through the wood and wept sorely. And he wanted to know if anybody saw his mother.
He said to the Mole,
‘You can go beneath the earth. Tell me, is my mother there?’
And the Mole answered,
‘You blinded my eyes. How can I know?’
He said to the Linnet,
‘You can fly over the tops of the tall trees. You can see the whole world. Tell me, can you see my mother?’
And the Linnet answered,
‘You hurt my wings for your pleasure. How can I fly?’
And to the little Squirrel who lived in the fir-tree, and was lonely, he said,
‘Where is my mother?’
And the Squirrel answered,
‘You killed my children. Do you want to kill her, too?’
And the Star-Child wept and bowed his head, and prayed forgiveness of God’s creatures. He went on through the forest, he looked for the beggar-woman. On the third day he came to the other side of the forest and went down into the plain[13].
When he passed through the villages the children mocked him, and threw stones at him. The farmers did not let him sleep even in the byres, because he was very foul. The workers drove him away, and there was none who had pity on him. Nor could he hear anywhere of the beggar-woman who was his mother.
During three years he wandered over the world, and often saw beggars on the road. But he met his mother nowhere.
He wandered over the world, and in the world there was neither love nor kindness nor charity for him. It was such a world as he made for himself in the days of his great pride.
One evening he came to the gate of a city that stood by a river. He was weary and footsore and tried to enter. But the soldiers who stood on guard dropped their halberts[14] across the entrance, and said roughly to him,
‘What do you want in the city?’
‘I look for my mother,’ he answered, ‘please let me enter in, she may be in this city.’
But the soldiers mocked at him. One of them wagged a black beard, and set down his shield and cried,
‘Truly, your mother will not be merry when she sees you, because you are uglier than the toad of the marsh, or the adder that crawls in the fen. Get away! Your mother does not dwell in this city.’
And another soldier, who held a yellow banner in his hand, said to him,
‘Who is your mother? Why are you not together with her?’
The Star-Child answered,
‘My mother is a beggar as I am. I treated her evilly. Please let me pass that she may give me her forgiveness, if she lives in this city.’
But the soldiers pricked him with their spears.
As he turned away, one whose armour was with gilt flowers, and on whose helmet couched a lion with wings, came up and asked the soldiers who it was. The soldiers said to him,
‘It is a beggar and the child of a beggar. Let him go away.’
‘No,’ he cried and laughed, ‘but we will sell the foul child for a slave and buy a bottle of sweet wine.’
An old and evil-visaged man[15] who passed by, said,
‘I will buy him for that price.’
He paid the price and took the Star-Child by the hand and led him into the city.
After that they went through many streets and came to a little door in a wall that was covered with a pomegranate tree. The old man touched the door with a ring of graved jasper and it opened. They went down five steps of brass into a garden with black poppies and green clay jars. Then the old man took from his turban a scarf of figured silk, and bound with it the eyes of the Star-Child. Then he pushed him forward.
When the old man took the scarf off the Child’s eyes, the Star-Child found himself in a dungeon. The old man set before him some mouldy bread on a trencher and said,
‘Eat,’ and some brackish water in a cup and said, ‘Drink.’
Then the old man went out, locked the door behind him and fastened it with an iron chain.
The old man was indeed the magician of Libya and learned his art from one who dwelt in the tombs of the Nile. In the morning, he came in to the Star-Child and frowned at him, and said,
‘In a wood that is nigh to the gate of this city of Giaours there are three pieces of gold. One is of white gold, and another is of yellow gold, and the gold of the third one is red. Today you must bring me the piece of white gold. If you don’t bring it, I will beat you with a hundred stripes[16]. Get away quickly! At sunset I will wait for you at the door of the garden. Remember to bring me the white gold, or I will punish you. You are my slave, I bought you for the price of a bottle of sweet wine.’
And he bound the eyes of the Star-Child with the scarf of figured silk, and led him through the house, and through the garden of poppies, and up the five steps of brass. Then he opened the little door with his ring and pushed him in the street.
The Star-Child went out of the gate of the city, and came to the wood.
This wood looked very nice, it seemed full of birds and of flowers. The Star-Child entered it gladly. But soon its beauty disappeared, and wherever he went harsh briars and thorns shot up from the ground and encompassed him. Evil nettles stung him, and the thistle pierced him with daggers. And he could not find the piece of white gold anywhere, though he sought for it from morn to noon, and from noon to sunset. At sunset he wept bitterly and decided to go home, for it was time to return.
But when he reached the outskirts of the wood, he heard from a thicket a cry. The Star-Child forgot his own sorrow and ran back to the place, where he saw there a little Hare in a hunter’s trap.
The Star-Child
it does not matter – это не имеет значения
went down into the plain – пошёл по долине
halberds – алебарды
old and evil-visaged man – старик с дьявольским выражением лица
I will beat you with a hundred stripes – я дам тебе сотню ударов плетью
