a room that was larger than the others, and saw his brothers standing there confused, biting their finger in surprise, in front of some painting. He was delighted at the sight of his brothers. Looked around and sees: what beautiful paintings! He said to himself:
«We need an expert here to figure everything out! It seems that these paintings were drawn by the hand of the prophet Mani himself!» (Mani is a semi – legendary prophet, the founder of the religion of Manichaeism (III century AD). Manichean temples were decorated with wall paintings, and therefore Mani himself was considered a skilled artist).
Then he went up to the brothers and looked at the image they were looking at. Then his heart sank, and he, too, was numb with surprise. The three of them stared at the painting until it got dark. We spent the night there, in the castle, suffering from hunger and thirst. When the sun rose and it became quite light, they came up to the painting again. This time Behrouz examined her and saw next to her an inscription in Chinese, going from top to bottom: «Mei-Kui-Gul, daughter of the Chinese emperor.» As soon as I read it, I turned to my brothers and said:
– This is a portrait of the daughter of the Chinese padishah, and she herself is now in this country, and we are not sure why we were stunned here in front of her soulless image!
Afruz said this:
– That’s right you say! I fell in love with the one that is painted here, and until I come to her doorstep, the sweet drink of life will be bitter to me! Come what may, I’m getting on my horse right now and I’ll drive him day and night until I get to China. There I will go to the Chinese emperor and tell him that I am a prince and ask for the hand of his daughter and add: either take this sword and cut off my head, or give me your daughter! And both of you go back to our father from here right now and tell him everything about me.
The younger brothers themselves fell in love with that girl, but they did not dare to say it openly and therefore said nothing:
– No, we can’t let you go alone. We’re coming with you.
No matter how much he tried to persuade them not to go, they answered:
– We have to go!
In the end, the three of them headed out of the enchanted castle towards the Chinese capital. They traveled through many different cities until they reached the capital of China and stopped there in a caravanserai. The next day Afruz went to the bathhouse, washed himself thoroughly, anointed his hair and was about to go to the emperor. But then the middle brother Shahruz told him:
«You can’t do it that way. After all, the emperor probably won’t want to give his daughter to some alien. You better get to his daughter and make her love you. When you lure her and catch her in a snare, then – whether her father agrees or does not agree – she will still become your wife. Afruz replied to this:
– No, I won’t do that. I know that no one can get to this girl.
In short, he went to the palace of the Chinese emperor, introduced himself to the chief courtier and asked permission to see the emperor. And he allowed few people to come to him and the courtier replied:
– Find out, check carefully whether he is telling the truth that he is the son of the shah. Ask him if he brought me a message from his father or if his father was angry with him and he came here to ask for my mediation so that I could reconcile them. Or maybe he is seeking refuge in my palace? Anyway, if he brought any message, take it away and bring it to me.
When the courtier came out to Afruz and began to question him about everything, he was upset and said:
– It’s all wrong and wrong! I dreamed of going to China and seeing the emperor there. Of course, I have a request to him, but I can’t tell anyone but him about this request.
They negotiated for a long time. In the end, the emperor allowed Afruz to enter. He came, bowed low, laid gifts at the feet of the emperor, tried, as far as possible, to be sweet-spoken and show submission. When the emperor found out that Afruz was telling the truth, that he really was the king’s son, he began to treat him very graciously and said:
– You’re like my nephew. Since you have come to me, it is not appropriate for you to stay in a caravanserai (a caravanserai is a large public building in the Near and Middle East and Central Asia, in cities, on roads and in uninhabited places, serving as shelter and parking for travelers, as a rule – for trade caravans). I’ll have a whole house prepared for you.
Then he turned to the servant:
– Prepare for shahzade (Shahzade – Persian. «the king’s son, prince») one of my houses with a garden, slaves, maids, a gatekeeper and eunuchs, so that he does not stay in the caravanserai.
Afruz agreed, but did not say that he was not alone, but with his brothers, who also stopped at the caravanserai. For several days he lived in the house that was assigned to him. During this time, he made friends with slaves and maids and began to ask them quietly about Mei-Kui: what is she like, is she going to get married or not? Is she in love with someone or is someone in love with her? Does she have a betrothed fiance? About this, one of their maids, who knew everything about Mei-Kui well, told him:
– The princess in the whole vast Chinese country has no equal in beauty, and as beautiful as she is, she is just as reasonable. She wants to choose a groom that she would like. Many princes came to woo, but she did not want any of them, and even the son of the Indian padishah did not like her.
Afruz asked:
«What does her father say about it?»
The girl replied:
«She agreed with her father that she would question anyone who would woo her, and if he turned out to be reasonable, she would become his wife, even if he was a beggar, and if he was ignorant, she would not marry him, even if he was a padishah.
Let’s leave Afruz for now and talk about Shahruz and Behruz.
When they both saw that the elder brother did not appear for three or four days, they became worried and thought: «What if, God forbid, the emperor got angry with Afruz and killed him or threw him into prison?»
Distressed, alarmed, they sought out the palace of the Chinese emperor, came to the chief courtier and asked him about his brother:
– What happened to the man who came here a few days ago?
He answered them:
– The Emperor placed at his disposal a house with a garden, slaves and maids. He’s doing well.
The brothers asked him if they could, if possible, allow them to go to see Afruz. The courtier asked:
«Are you related to him?» Those say:
– Yes, he is our older brother.
Then the courtier led them to Afruz. Their arrival was very unpleasant for Tom. The younger brothers, as soon as they saw that the elder was alive and well, were very happy. We sat with him for two hours, talked and left. The courtier told the Chinese emperor about this visit, and he did not like Afruz’s act: why did he not say anything about the brothers, why did he leave them in the caravanserai? After that, the emperor stopped accepting Afruz with the same honor and respect, he began
