The Sigh

Once upon a time, there was a merchant who had three daughters. One day he decided to leave his home for business in another city. 
Before he left, he called his three daughters and said: "Tell me whatever you want to have and I will buy it for you."

The first daughter said: "A dress."

The second daughter said: "One pair of socks."

The third and the youngest girl said: "I want a flower to wear in my hair."

The merchant did his business affairs in that far away city and he bought a dress and a pair of socks for his daughters. But he forgot the flower for the youngest girl.

He came home. As soon as he sat down next to his family, he remembered what he had forgotten and "Ah..." he sighed. At the same time someone knocked on the door. The merchant went to open it and he saw that someone was standing on the threshold of the door with a small box in his hand.

"Who are you?" The merchant asked.

"I am the Sigh," answered the man at the door. "I bring you the flower that your daughter wants to wear."

The merchant was very happy. He took the flower from the Sigh and gave it to his daughter.

When the girl saw how wonderful the flower was, she put the flower forthwith in her hair.

Three days later someone knocked on the door. Once again it was the Sigh.

"I am here to take with me the one who owns the flower," he said.

The merchant sought for an answer.

After a long silence he said: "Please, let it be, your mother and your father have been good persons, behave as well as they have been doing."

But the Sigh replied: "It is impossible. I am doing my responsibility and duty, I have to take your daughter with me."

Finally the merchant left his youngest daughter in the hands of the Sigh.

The Sigh closed the eyes of the girl, set her on the back of his horse and there they left.

When the girl opened her eyes again, she saw a magnificent and wonderful garden.

There were beautiful songs from every bush and flower.

The Sigh said: "That's your home now."

Some days passed by. The girl saw nobody else in there except the Sigh. Yet she ate, slept and walked around but she was always alone.

One day she missed her father and mother very badly.

"Ah..." she sighed and the Sigh came. He asked why she sighed.

"I miss my family very much," the girl said. "I want to see my father and mother."

"I bring you home tomorrow," the Sigh said.

The next morning the Sigh closed the eyes of the girl and put her on the back of his horse and took her to the house of the merchant. On the porch he set her down on the ground and opened her eyes.

"Remember, I will return here to take you back home tomorrow," the Sigh said.

The girl entered in to the house, she kissed everyone and sat to talk and relieve her heart.

"There is a big garden and I live freely in there, as if all is my own," the girl explained. "I even have a servant to do all the work for me. There are plenty of delicious foods, but I am so alone in the garden."

The aunt of the girl who also was there, said: "Oh darling, that doesn’t cover the whole story, there is something not right here. I am pretty sure that you have a husband in there, you have to find out about it."

"Let me know," continued the aunt. "What do they bring you to drink at nights before you go to bed?"

"One cup of tea," answered the girl.

"Next night you don't drink your tea," her aunt proposed. "Cut your finger and pour salt on it so that you would not fall asleep. Then you will be able to see what will happen."

"Alright," said the girl.

The next morning the Sigh appeared and brought the girl back to the garden. When the night came the Sigh offered the girl a glass of tea. The girl spilled the tea upon the carpet secretly. Next, she cut her finger, and then poured salt on it, after that she went to bed. In the middle of the night the girl heard the sound of footsteps and she saw from the corners of her eyes that the Sigh walked close to her with a lantern in his hand and a youthful man was following him. He was as beautiful as the full moon.

The young man asked the Sigh: "Has the lady been feeling alright today?"

"Yes, Sir," answered the Sigh.

"Has she drunk her tea?" wanted the young man to be sure.

"Yes, Sir," answered the Sigh and left the room.

The young man took out his clothes and made him ready to sleep next to the girl.

She woke up quickly and set next to him and shouted: “You, who are you?”

"Don't be afraid," tried the youthful man to reassure the girl. "I am your husband."

"Then why you did not show up earlier", asked the girl.

The young man said: "There is no trust in human faith, I thought it was better for us that you didn’t meet me. But now that my secret has been revealed, I do not longer hide myself from you as you know that I am not human."

The next morning the servant came to wake up his master.

"Make the rose garden flourish in all its splendor," ordered the young man to the Sigh and he added: "My wife and I are going to eat breakfast in there."

The servant left to arrange the garden and made breakfast for them.

After breakfast the youthful man and the girl walked in to the red rose garden.

The girl couldn't believe what she saw. The garden was full of wonderful red flowers and blossoms.

Every flower took her breath away.

Those flowers were of the same branch of that flower the Sigh brought for her.

She wanted to pick up a beautiful rose but her hand was too short.

The young man stretched his arm to pick the flower for his girl.

The girl looked at the young man and saw a little feather pricking under his armpit.

She leaned over to remove the feather. Suddenly the air changed into the cloudy and dark.

The girl fell to the ground and lay down unconsciously. When she opened her eyes, the scene was changed and the young men lay down motionless.

"Ah," the girl sighed and the Sigh came.

"Bring me black clothes," the girl sobbed.

The girl dressed herself all over in black cloths and bowed over the young man. 

She began to pray while tears were rolling down her face.

Finally the girl realized that nothing could change into the better anymore.

"Take me to the slave market and sell me as a slave," she begged the Sigh.

The Sigh escorted the girl to the market and sold her.

The new house where she lived in was a good place but after some days she noticed that everyone was dressed in black cloths. Everybody seemed to be sad.

"Why is everyone in this house dressed in black cloths," she asked one of the women.

"Since the young and only son of our mistress has been missing we all dress in black cloths," she explained.

The girl couldn’t sleep at nights. She thought of her husband every night and tried to find out the remedy for his injures.

On one of those restless nights she saw the nursemaid of the young missing man going outside with a lantern in her hand.

The girl got out of bed and started to follow her secretly. 

The nursemaid passed some gardens and yards. Then she stopped by a pool.

She drained the water from the pool and when all the water of the pool was gone a big stone appeared.

The nursemaid moved the stone aside and went down a staircase to a cellar.

The girl walked on tiptoes after her.

In the cellar she saw the nurse standing next to a young man in chains.

"Have you thought about my proposal," sneered the nurse. "Do you accept my proposal or no?"

"No," said the boy.

The nursemaid asked one more time but the boy did not succumb.

After three times asking the nursemaid became angry and she lashed the boy till his face and head was covered with lots of blood.

When she was going to leave the young boy alone, she offered the boy a dish of rice that she brought with her for feeding the boy. She forced him to eat it.

Before the nurse returned home the girl left and pretended to be asleep.

In the morning the nurse was the first to go to the baths.

When the nurse was away the girl said to one of the women: "I had a dream last night. I better tell it my mistress, but I am afraid the good news could cause a shock of happiness in her followed by a stroke." 
The girl knew the woman could not keep secrets. Not after long the news spread in the house that the girl had a strange dream at the night before.

When the news received the ear of the lady of the house, she immediately called the girl to reveal her dream.

The girl said: "My mistress, follow me and I will tell you my dream on the way."

They passed garden after garden, yards after yards and the girl pointed out: "My mistress, all the places we have crossed till now looked like those places I have dreamed of last night."

"And there's the same pond," called out the girl exalted. "Let's drain the water and see if my dream speaks the truth. I can't wait to see."

When the pond was empty they walked into the cellar.

The boy heard footsteps and cried out: "Bitch, now you even come at daytime to torture me. Didn't you get enough last night?"

When his mother heard the voice of her son she hurried to him. She brought him back to his senses and consoled him in her arms.

The girl said: "It's the same boy I saw in my dream."

They brought the boy out of the cellar and gave him a bath.

After the doctors had healed the young man's injuries, he told everyone the whole story how he was taken by his nursemaid and kept in captivity.

Exactly at that moment someone knocked on the door. The mistress knew this person was the nursemaid.

"Open the door," the mistress ordered.

The nursemaid had already knocked on the door for several times. 

When the servants unlocked the door, the nursemaid scolded them for all the bad in the world.

Then in a frightening moment the eyes of the nursemaid crossed the eyes of the boy and her features went white as snow.

The mistress ordered to throw the nursemaid to the dogs. But before that they cut her into tiny pieces.

"Do you want to be the wife of my son," asked the mistress to the girl.

"I can't marry your son because I still mourn over my lost husband," answered the girl.

She understood that the remedy of her husband’s injury was not in there and she sighed: "ah..."

The Sigh came.

The girl begged the Sigh to take her back to the young man so that she could stay beside him.

The girl cried over the boy's body and kneeled down to pray.

But nothing was there to be done anymore.

After a while she said to the Sigh: "Take me to the slave market and sell me as a slave."

The Sigh sold her. And also this time there was a deep sadness that swept throughout the house she lived in.

The girl asked why everyone was so sad.

The maiden-servants told her: "The mistress had delivered a baby dragon some years ago. She hides the babe dragon in the basement. Day after day it grows bigger and bigger. But the mistress can neither get it over her heart to kill the dragon nor is she able to show the babe to us. She tries to cover it up. But all servants know about this secret."

One day the girl said to her mistress: "My mistress, is not it a good idea to throw me in the cellar as food for the dragon, it's roaring of hunger."

"Are you out of your mind," shouted the mistress.

The little girl asked again and again till the mistress couldn't refuse her request anymore.

"Put me in a leather bag and close the lid," the girl explained. "Then leave me in front of the dragon."

The mistress did what the girl told her. She was thrown in front of the dragon.

The dragon inspected the leather bag and groaned: "Girl, come out of your disguise so I can eat you."

"Why should I come out of my disguise, why not you show your real face to me at first?" protested the girl.

The girl asked over and over again.

But finally the dragon could not resist anymore to the pleading voice of the girl.

So that the dragon came out of his disguise before the girl had done it. There stood a boy as beautiful as the full moon.

After that the girl came out of the leather bag and both of them sat next to each other to chat.

And time passed by...

The mistress began to worry and called the maiden servants.

"Hurry up to see what happened to the poor girl," she shouted.

The servants went to peek trough the hole in the basement.

They looked for the dragon but instead they saw a girl and a boy as beautiful as the full moon exchanging pleasantries.

When the mistress heard the good news she was overwhelmed with joy.

The girl and the boy were brought by servants to meet the mistress.

"Now that you have found each other in here," she said. "Why don't you two become husband and wife."

The girl answered: "No, I am still mourning over my lost husband, maybe some time's later."

The girl understood that the remedy of her husband’s injure was not to find in there and she sighed: "Ah..."

The Sigh came.

"Is the young man still sleeping?" inquired the girl.

"Yes, he is still in the same way as you left him," informed the Sigh.

Again the girl went with the Sigh to the young man's place.

The girl leaned over her husband. For a long time she wept and prayed.

"Ah," she sighed again... and the Sigh came.

"Take me to the slave market and sell me as slave again," asked the girl. That's what the Sigh did.

A man bought the girl and took her into his house.

The servants told the girl: "It's the rule of the house that a newcomer sleeps on the floor at the room of the master and mistress at the first night of arrival."

"Alright," said the girl.

In the middle of the night she woke up and saw the mistress woke up and going away for a while.

She came back with a sword and cut the head of her husband from ear to ear.

Next she dried the sword and put it in a drawer.

Then she put lots of makeup upon her face and dressed up and stepped outside. On the porch a servant was holding two horses. The two of them mounted their horse and they did ride away.

The girl pursued them.

Finally the woman and the servant arrived at a building in the middle of nowhere and knocked on the door.

The door opened and they went inside.

The girl peeped in the window and saw forty rogues sitting together.

"Why are you so late?" shouted the chief of the bandits.

"It's not my fault," defended the woman. "That jerk of a husband did not fall asleep easily. That's why it took a long time to get rid of him. Kill him and make me free."

But there was no time to lose and the bandits had great fun by getting drunk and dancing till the morning came up.

While the mistress was still feasting, the girl left the place and went back to her bed, under the sheets to sleep.

When the woman was back in her room, she took a feather and some oil out of a small box. She smeared a little bit oil on the neck and the head of her husband with the feather, then she placed the head back on his place and...

"Achi, achi, ache," the man woke up. "My love, you have a cold body, where have you been," wanted the husband to know.

"You can't image what a sick stomach I have," moaned the woman.

The next evening when it was time to sleep the girl proposed: "I want to sleep again in the same room as my mister and mistress do."

Exactly the same as the other night the woman cut the head of her husband and went away.

Immediately after she left the house, the girl managed to paste the head of the man back on his place.

"Achi, achi, ache," the man sneezed and when he opened his eyes he saw instead of his wife a young girl.

"Psst," the girl reassured him. "I know where the mistress has been going, follow me and I will show you where she is."

Later, when they arrived at the same place where she was at the night before, the man saw with his own eyes the forty bandits sitting together and his wife singing and dancing there.

How much pain it gave the man to see that his wife was having the time of her life at the rogues ball.

The man wanted to go inside of that place to fight with them but he realized they were more powerful than him.

He went to the stable and let loose the horses. They made a hell of a noise and the bandits hurried out of the house to look what happened. But the husband stood with a sword in his hand behind the door of the house and he cut the head of everyone who left the house.

His wife and the headman stayed inside the house but he entered and killed them too. So finally they were all beheaded. Then the man and the girl walked together homewards.

At home he said: "Marry me please. I love to give you all my property and wealth."

"No, I really have to leave you right now," said the girl. "Please give me only the feather and the ointment."

The merchant gave the little girl the feather and the tin box that contained the oil.

"Ah..." she sighed and the Sigh came.

"Is the young man still sleeping?" inquired the girl.

"Yes, nothing's changed since you have left," informed the Sigh. "He's still sleeping like a rock."

"Take me back to see him again," the girl pleaded.

The Sigh brought the girl back to the garden. This time she stood over her husband with the oil on her hands.

She rubbed some of the liquid on his armpit with the feather. 

"Achi, achi, ache," sneezed the young man and woke up.

At the same time all the trees began to blossom and the birds began to sing again.

The young man girl embraced the girl and they kissed each other.
And they lived happily until their deaths.