The shepherd boy was awakened by strange sounds coming from the street. Rubbing his eyes, he remembered – it’s a day off. No need to rush to the herd; he could lounge in bed until his mother called him for breakfast.
Strange sounds were growing stronger. Jumping out of bed, he looked out of the window and saw a crowd surrounding a girl in a blue scarf. Her red hair, puffed out of the scarf, was fluttering to the beat of a poignant melody – the girl was playing the violin.
The shepherd boy quickly got dressed and ran outside. The crowd of listeners was growing. Someone started quietly sobbing. Someone threw a coin into the violin case.
Eventually, a policeman showed up. He stood still for a few moments, then flicked his whip and began to disperse the crowd. The girl hastily gathered her belongings and slipped into the next lane.
The shepherd boy ran after her.
Not daring to come closer, he watched her from a distance.
She noticed him and stopped.
– You played so beautifully, – the shepherd boy forced himself to speak, choking with embarrassment.
– Thank you.
There was an awkward silence. Then she sighed:
– I have to go. By the way, you too can play like that if you want.
– Me? – the shepherd boy was astonished.
– You are kidding! I’m just a shepherd boy, not a musician.
She reached out and stroked his shaggy head:
– Yes, you can, I know. He grabbed her hand and kissed it. She freed herself and turned ready to leave.
– Wait a minute! Can I go with you? – cried the shepherd boy.
– With me? But they won’t let you go, you have your parents, friends, your herd…
– You know what… I do not care about anything! I’ll run away with you. Just wait for me a little bit, I’ll go get my stuff. He rushed headlong back home.
The girl had waited for a while, then turned and strode forward.
Having not found the girl at the same place, the shepherd boy got so upset that his eyes filled with tears. With his head bowed, he was about to leave, when suddenly he heard:
– Hey, boy, where are you going? He turned around – the girl in a blue scarf was standing in the middle of the street. The rays of the autumn sun gilded her hair, forming a glittering halo around the head. The girl was smiling.
…
In the evening, near the campfire, when she fell asleep, the shepherd boy secretly pulled the violin out of the case. He examined the instrument, gently touching the strings. The girl woke up and watched him, but gave no sign.
…
Walking on the road they talked.
– Where are you from? – asked the shepherd boy.
– I do not know. I fell from the sky, – she laughed in response.
– How come? That doesn’t happen!
– Anything can happen. But seriously – I only know one thing: I’ve always been, and I will always be.
– I don’t understand it, – sighed the shepherd boy.
…
On their journey breaks, the girl taught him to sing:
– Listen to me first and then sing along.
– No, I can’t do it!
– You can. Just try, sing. And do not think!
Some sort of muffled bellow was coming out of the shepherd boy. Both were rolling with laughter. But amazingly, every time, her student was getting better and better…
During the journey, they swam in the lakes and rivers that they came across on their way. The shepherd boy fished, and she baked the catch on the fire. They picked strawberries together…
One night the shepherd boy could not fall asleep and lay in bed, staring into the darkness. “She fell from the sky,” – he whispered. That night he had a dream: the stars were sedately moving around the sky, when suddenly one of them broke off and fell on the ground. And music started – incredibly beautiful, sad music.
In the morning he could not wait until she woke up. And as soon as she opened her eyes, he gleefully shouted:
– I dreamed about the music! Music! And he started singing.
She listened to him, then pulled out her violin and began to play along. The woods and the meadows grew quiet. Even the babbling brooks ceased, and the birds stopped chirping. Everybody was listening to the amazing melody. No one could explain why it was so sad. As if someone in the throes of ultimate revelation was pouring out his soul. This unknown someone was singing about his loneliness and longing. As if he was striving to share his treasures with people, but people didn’t need them. These gems were falling to the ground, unnoticed, and when people trod on them, the gems were kicked away like roadside pebbles. And from such a cosmic sadness, heaven and earth started trembling…
The shepherd boy stopped singing. The girl put the violin on the ground, came to the shepherd boy, and hugged him.
…
After many days and nights the forest and the fields came to an end. The girl and the shepherd boy came to the big city. He stayed at the temple, curled up in the sun, and she went to the market to buy some food.
Suddenly the shepherd boy heard: “Catch her, catch! This is a witch, a witch! “ He rushed to the cries and saw a policeman holding his girlfriend by her hair. The old women surrounded the girl and cried: ” Fancy that – she wanted to heal him! But who is she? Who allowed her to do that?!”
The leper whose wounds she tried to heal, has disappeared in the crowd. The policeman took the girl with him. She turned around, and, having found the shepherd boy in the crowd called out to him: “Catch! ” And the violin in the case was in the hands of the shepherd boy.
…
At night he made his way to the prison window and called to her softly. She looked out and went on to explain:
– There was a leper, covered with ulcers. I can heal such people with my hands. I tried, and he immediately felt better. Well, the rest you saw. After a pause, she added:
– They’re going to cut off my head. Tomorrow.
The shepherd boy cried and in impotent rage clung at the prison window bars, trying to pry them out.
– Don’t do that. I’m almost used to it, – she whispered.
– Used to it? What do you mean? Is it possible to get used to it?
– It is possible. People kill me in every century, under any circumstances. Because I am not like them. Because they do not understand me and fear me. I am immortal, but it still hurts to die. Very painful… Oh well. And do not forget me. And sing – you’re a genuine musician!
The shepherd boy fell to the ground at the prison wall, and for the first time in his life began to pray, asking God to save his girlfriend. But the miracle for which he pleaded did not happen.
…
Early in the morning the executors brought the girl to the town square. They tore a blue handkerchief off her head. Obediently, she dropped her head on the chopping block. Wag – and the head in red curls rolled on the dais. The crowd roared with approval.
Completely numb, the shepherd boy was watching the execution, but when the people left, he came to his senses, made his way to the dais, and secretly picked up the blue scarf.
Clutching the violin and the scarf, he ran away from the city.
He ran for a long time. A very long time. Then it started to rain. The shepherd boy, soaked to the skin and finally exhausted, fell flat on his face into a puddle.
…
He was picked up by some old people. They dragged him into the house and put him to bed. The shepherd boy’s mind was wandering. Once he woke up for a moment, and unable to move a finger, watched the old man chopping his violin to firewood, throwing the kindling into the oven. The shepherd boy did not see how the old woman pulled the blue scarf out of his bag, hiding it furtively in her trunk.
Finally the shepherd boy recovered. He did not remember anything about his former life. The old couple adopted him. The shepherd boy started herding sheep and cows, chopping wood, and mowing hay again.
…
One day coming into the shed for firewood, he noticed something unusual on the floor. He bent down and picked up a piece of a violin fingerboard. He squeezed it in his hand, and all of a sudden as if a thunderbolt struck him – he instantly remembered everything, and his heart started aching fiercely.
At night, he ran away from the elderly couple. He ran across the field, across the ravine, through the forest. But his heart was aching and aching. And there was nobody and nothing in the world that could calm him down.
In the morning shepherd boy climbed to the edge of the wood. Dense fog was drifting around. The shepherd boy took out a piece of the violin fingerboard, put it to his shoulder like a violin, and started playing and singing:
Why, my God, you have given me a heart,
Why have you given me suffering?
I prayed, but you did not hear me.
Why have you taken my girlfriend away from me?
Perhaps I didn’t pray well enough?
There is no more place for me in this world.
Loneliness corroded my heart.
And there is nothing to soothe my heart.
I am no longer able to live
But I do not dare to die.
What should I do? Tell me.
Hear my voice, and answer my prayer!
Put an end to my suffering.
This music and this song are for you, my Lord.
The shepherd boy went silent. His head was empty. His heart was empty as well. The fog, surrounding him tightly, started dissipating. Blue-gray clouds were swirling in the autumn sky.
Suddenly, he felt that next to him – inside and outside – there was something else beside an all-consuming emptiness. Or someone. Strange heat was dissipating throughout his body. As if this somebody as huge as the world embraced him.
The little shepherd boy realized that he had never been alone. That all this while someone has been loving him and loving dearly. He just could not see, hear and feel it. He felt ashamed. He fell to his knees and wept. “Oh my God! Forgive me, a sinner, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! “- he whispered fervently.
And the sky was listening attentively.
