Azourland. Dream chooses the braveheart

Azourland. Dream chooses the braveheart
Natalia Isaeva

Crown Prince Zlat and the country boy Khayat both dream of glory.Angry rock is inexorable, their meeting is inevitable. Which of them will catch luck by the tail: the prince or the beggar?On the way they are waiting for deft smugglers; heroes incur the wrath of the king of the sea; Monsters will chase them.Will they be able to go through all the turns of fate on the way to a dream?

Azourland

Dream chooses the braveheart

Natalia Isaeva

Azourland is an island of fairy tales,

A real spirit of mischief.

Do not stand at the door, romantic,

Look into this region of magic.

Be polite, more polite with the heroes of these days,

Interesting meetings will be throughout the book.

Translator Ekaterina Ulanova

Illustrator Natalia Isaeva

Illustrator Ekaterina Ulanova

© Natalia Isaeva, 2019

© Ekaterina Ulanova, translation, 2019

© Natalia Isaeva, illustrations, 2019

© Ekaterina Ulanova, illustrations, 2019

ISBN 978-5-4496-0853-6

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Prologue

A long time ago the Heart was born on Earth. “Thump, thump, thump, thump,” the Heart begins to beat. It was hot, he suffered quite a bit from loneliness, he wanted to love, and once he found it, he was happily willing to fight for his beloved – a dream. The dream was… that’s another story. As soon as the Heart wanted to talk seriously with her about their feelings, she would joke and slip away.

She thought: “If I’m a dream and so beautiful, then the heart must obey me, I will decide when he is to beat and when to freeze.” The Heart, was hopelessly in love and promised to fulfil all her desires. The dream answered: “I want you, my love, to create for me a whole island of a fairy tale. On this island, anything I may desire will be fulfilled. I will invite guests and let anyone who wishes, reach its dream.”

“Oh, dream, this does not happen, desires can be fantastic and at times unreal,” answered the heart. “I want such an island,” the dream cried and stamped her foot. “I will not argue with you, my lady… so be it,” answered the heart.

A fairy tale island appeared on all maps of the world, it was Azourland, since then the heart of the island is beating at a will of the dream, and the dream, a barefooted girl with funny pigtails sits on the seashore and welcomes guests.

Soon people, birds, animals, and sea dwellers learned about the wonderful island, each of them wanted to fulfil their dream, therefore they settled Azourland. They built cities, founded countries, loved and suffered for their dreams. Every day on the island someone had a wish come true. The dream claps and rejoices and the heart beats with it in time.

The days, years, and centuries passed by. The fairy tale island welcomed more and more new inhabitants, no matter if they were a bird or a man. Anyone from the island could fulfil its dream, such is the law in Azourland. The heart of the island and its beloved dream sometimes wondered at the strange desires of the inhabitants of the island, their aspirations and hopes.

Gradually the island began to develop its traditions, each of the countries on the island acquired its own identity. These changes liked the dream. She was trembling to meet every new desire and with pleasure performed them.

In the Wonderful Green Forest where people, birds and animals lived a tradition has developed and all significant events were included in the book Chronicles of the Wonderful Green Forest. The dream was very fond of reading this book in the evenings to the heart and they laughed together at the amusing adventures of forest animals.

As a reward for the book the dream gave to the Wonderful Green Forest an amulet – “The Sandglass of Time” and appointed the guardian of this watch, magician and sorcerer Khronos. The new amulet helped the inhabitants of the country managed time. It was an honourable reward and a great responsibility. Residents of the Wonderful Green Forest after this gift have changed a lot, their life was now full of deep meaning, they had great figures and philosophers.

One of them became the leader elk, the first head of the Wonderful Green Forest. His descendants still remember him with pride and tell of his glorious exploits. A lot of things happened in the Wonderful Green Forest, but one of the most important things happened recently, the elk Chernobrov will tell us about it.

Chernobrov the elk came to visit the family of swans and their children, Sudarushka and Zakharchik. He went every year to visit his friends from the Fiery Country, he was impatiently awaited by two young swans. They were very fond of listening to the tales that Chernobrov told them.

Two families sat at the table with delicious food, they ate and drank and they decided to make each other happy with stories and fairy tales. The Elk Chernobrov was the first to take the floor.

PART 1

The Fiery Country

The neighbour of the Wonderful Green Forest was the Fiery Country. Its people’s temper was hot, they liked to organise competitions and tournaments most of all. Who of them will jump further or climb a high mountain and the most favourite match they had was the game: “What is this? Guess.”

The rules were simple: a thing was hidden in the trunk and it was locked with 6 locks one by one for 6 contestants so that no one could see what lay in the trunk. The chief judge was the ruler of the Fiery Country, the wisest Arlat and five witnesses who were chosen from the inhabitants.

People gathered from all four ends of the world on the square near the palace at noon, anyone who wanted could take part in the match.

It was necessary to ask questions to the owner of the outlandish thing and he could answer the question: “Yes or no.” The one who first guesses what is hidden in the trunk wins in the match. If no one guesses, then the owner of the thing will win.

The only condition was to make a thing with own hands in order to show the skills. It was necessary to invent and make something that no one saw or knew in the Fiery Country.

After that, the owner of the outlandish thing received the title: “The Wisest Master of the Fiery Country”; the position of vizier for a year; and 100 druns from the state treasury. The druns are gold coins, where a fiery spark-amulet of the Fiery Country was depicted.

The druns

There haven’t been new viziers in the country for five years, because all the participants in the tournaments lost, none of them managed to sustain more than seven questions.

The wisest Arlat was in sorrow and he waited each year with hope, that there would be a new vizier and the wisest master at the tournament.

Guests from all over the country came to the contest this year and the only participant decided to cheat. He hid the living bird into the trunk and this violated the rules of the tournament.

When there were no more questions for the players and everyone was quiet in the joyful expectation of a miracle. The judges opened six locks, the trunk lid was lifted and the bird fluttered and flew away. Sighs of regret passed through the crowd, reproaches in deception. This bad participant tried to prove that he had made the bird himself, but no one believed him. Do not deceive your brothers, they feel lie in a mile. That grief-participant was beaten for his lie, he wanted to escape from the crowd that followed him and wash himself of rotten tomatoes.

The tale about Hayat, the inhabitant of the Fiery Country

Time passed. A young man, named Hayat, grew up in one village on the shore of the lake. He, like all children in the country, dreamed of the glory and title of “Wisest Master.” Of course, he thought that he had no talents. He tried to master the modelling on the potter’s wheel, made of wood, knit knots from ropes but nothing outstanding or surprising happened to make it, but Hayat was in a cheerful disposition, he wasn’t upset and did not lose his dreams.

He sat on the shore of the lake in his free time and admired the sunset and he dreamed that he had created such a useful and beautiful thing that would be needed in every house in their Fiery country.

The lake