Read Online Princess of Dhagabad, The by Anna Kashina - Free Book Online Page B

reading with amazement an ancient warning to
someone who wished to learn everything about the world. The scroll
said that such a man was doomed to eternal suffering. You learned
that the gods—the same gods that exist in great numbers for some
people and are united into the one protector from heaven for
others; the gods that symbolize for people everything
incomprehensible and unknown and whose existence somehow explains
for people their very inability to know and comprehend certain
things—these gods never forgive one who achieves absolute power,
being unrelenting to those trying to discover their secrets.
    Not believing a single word of the ancient
scroll, at the same time you had to acknowledge its inner logic. If
the gods, or some forces symbolizing them, really existed, having
no power to prevent a man from learning, they should be able to
appoint a punishment for obtaining absolute knowledge, a punishment
so terrible that no one would ever wish to discover their highest
secrets.
    Straightening out the folds of the ancient
parchment, you eagerly consumed the information about a man close
to absolute power. The spare phrases told about the already
familiar satisfaction of learning, of the infinite mysteries and
the joy of discovering them…and the burden of wisdom, lying on
one’s shoulders heavier than a mountain. The man who many centuries
ago wrote those intricate hieroglyphs on the piece of parchment
achieved great wisdom but lost his peace and, feeling that his end
was near, left a warning to those who could insanely wish to follow
the same path…
    You were reading the ancient lines with
wonder and mistrust. You, who had just overcome time itself, you,
who were rapidly walking along a path that seemed in your euphoria
to be endless and victorious, you, who along with hard work felt
great joy in every step along this path—you simply couldn’t believe
that the author of the scroll, who obviously was ahead of you on
the same path, could possibly feel such pain. Maybe, you thought,
the unknown sage had chosen the wrong path; for no pain, no burden
of knowledge, no fear of the dark mysteries could possibly overcome
the joyous thrill of the awareness that the world around you was
becoming more and more dimensional, further and further opening to
your vision its distant secret corners…
    The Agritian scroll stopped in mid-sentence.
You never learned the fate of this man and whether he was able to
reach absolute knowledge. Later you returned to the parchment again
and again, and even translated it into another language, one of
those more familiar to you, before the scroll completely
deteriorated. From this scroll you learned for the first time the
strange word—djinn…

    The jasmine smell, floating in waves from
behind the boulder covered with plants, mixes with the tinkling of
running water, with the rustling of the giant magnolia leaves, and
with the fleeting warmth of the patches of sunlight moving over her
face. The princess’s heart races with joy at the thought of how
they would soon walk around the boulder to find themselves in her
favorite glade. She glances at Hasan walking beside her, looking
forward to sharing one of her most precious secrets with him, a
secret nobody in the palace understands but which, she is somehow
sure, the djinn will understand very well. Maybe she would even
have time to catch on his face one of those fleeting expressions
that break from time to time his impassiveness. She even dreams
that today will be the day when the djinn will smile at her and not
at his inner thoughts—smile, meeting her eyes, and let her steal a
single look through the defenses of the iron shutters.
    The episode with the Veriduan stallion
completely changed everyone’s attitude toward Hasan. Of course, he
is still feared for what a djinn is capable of, even without being
able to command his own magic. But now he is no longer looked upon
as a terrifying sorcerer of old tales, burdened by his slavery