Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons: two were bright, the youngest was considered a fool. His name was Alo-Dino.
The king had an apple-tree in his orchard with three apples on it. And one day an old beggar came over and said to the king’s gardener: ‘I want one of those apples.’
‘These apples are for the king only,’ said the gardener. ‘You can have any other fruit from this orchard you like, but not the king’s apples.’
‘I want an apple. I don’t care for any other fruit.’
And the old beggar became so angry for not getting an apple that he put a curse on the king’s orchard. Instantly all the trees shed their leaves and the whole wonderful garden dried up.
‘Only Hazaran Bulbul can make this orchard bloom again,’ said the old man and went his way.
When the king saw his orchard with its bare trees he scolded his gardener: ‘Is this how you take care of my orchard? It’s all withered and dried up.’
‘An old beggar wanted me to give him an apple and I would not,’ said the gardener, ‘so in his rage he put a curse on our orchard. That’s why it dried up. The old beggar said this orchard will never grow green again until Hazaran Bulbul sings in it.’
‘Then we have to find somebody to fetch Hazaran Bulbul.’
The king’s eldest son stepped forward and said: ‘May the king live long, I will bring you Hazaran Bulbul.’
The middle son stepped forward and said: ‘Father, I will bring it.’
‘Then both of you go together,’ said the king.
The two princes mounted their horses and rode off.
‘Mother, where are my brothers?’ Alo-Dino asked some days later.
‘Oh, you little fool, did you just wake up to ask about your brothers? They have been gone six days now to fetch Hazaran Bulbul.’
Alo-Dino went to the king’s stablemaster and said: ‘Saddle a fast horse for me. I am going after my brothers.’
‘We have quite a lot of good horses here; pick the one you like best.’
Alo-Dino walked through the king’s stables and pressed down on the back of one horse after another, and they all caved in. Only a worthless-looking horse tied separately by the door stood firm when Alo-Dino laid his hand on its back. He ordered the stable-master to wash this mangy horse three times a day and to feed it every hour forty pounds of raisins.
Three days later Alo-Dino leapt into the saddle of this same horse and galloped off after his brothers. He soon caught up with them.
‘Why are you following us, you fool?’ said the eldest brother, and slapped him.
‘Oh, let him come along if he wants to,’ said the middle brother. ‘We need a servant to take care of our horses and brew our tea.’
So the three of them rode on together and halted when the road branched out in three different directions. They saw an old man sitting at the crossroads.
‘Good day, pappy.’
‘God’s day, king’s sons.’
‘Can you tell us where these three roads lead to?’ asked the eldest brother.
‘One leads to Tiflis, another to Erevan, and this one is the Road-of-No-Return,’ said the old man.
‘You two follow one of these safe roads, I will take the Road-of-No-Return,’ said Alo-Dino.
‘Good,’ thought his eldest brother, ‘We’ll get rid of the fool.’
‘Pappy, don’t go away until all three of us are back,’ said Alo-Dino.
His brothers took the safe roads. Alo-Dino rode along the Road-of-No-Return. And heaven only knows how far he went until he reached a land where the earth, the trees, the grass, the rocks, everything was red. His horse spoke in a human voice by God’s order and said:
‘Alo-Dino, do you know where we are? This is the land of the Red Dev. Tonight we will have to stop at his house and be his guests. He has three heads.’
Alo-Dino reined in before the house of the Red Dev as dusk began to fall and a maiden met him at the gate. She was so sorry for the lad that she said: ‘Come in and let me hide you from the Red Dev.’
‘Why should you hide me?’ said Alo-Dino, entering the monster’s house. ‘I am not afraid of the Red Dev. Bring me some food! I am starving.’
‘Sit down,’ said the maiden.
Alo-Dino sat at the monster’s table and she brought him three trays stacked high with food.
‘You call this supper? I said bring me some food!’
‘If you are so hungry you can eat the Red Dev’s portion.’
She had cooked about sixty pounds of rice in a big copper cauldron, topped off with two roast oxen. Alo-Dino ate all of it, not bothering to take the bones out of his mouth.
‘Oh, I do feel sorry for you,’ said the maiden. ‘Let me hide you before my husband comes home.’
‘That’s why I came here, to kill your husband.’
Suddenly the house shook. ‘What’s that? Why is this room shaking?’
‘My husband is coming back,’ she said.
The Red Dev arrived, driving bears and wolves and foxes before him. He drove the beasts into the yard, and walked into the house.
‘Greetings, Alo-Dino!’
‘How do you know I am Alo-Dino?’
‘I was in the mountains the day you were born, and the trees, the rocks, the grass—all told me about your birth. And who besides Alo-Dino dares come to my house?’ The Red Dev turned to the maiden: ‘Wife, hurry up and bring me my supper.’
‘This boy ate your portion and left you nothing,’ she said.
‘That’s all right. There is plenty of fresh meat out in the yard.’
They slaughtered a few of the wild beasts, cooked them, and Alo-Dino sat down to eat again with the Red Dev. The monster saw him swallowing the bones too as Alo-Dino gulped down everything he put in his mouth. After they had finished eating the Red Dev said:
‘Shall we fight now or tomorrow morning?’
‘As you wish.’
‘It is our custom to feed a guest first, and fight him later. Tomorrow morning then?’
‘I am always ready for a good fight.’
Both were up at daybreak. They seized their weapons and jumped on their horses.
‘Who strikes first?’ the Red Dev asked.
‘I am your guest, so you strike first.’
The Red Dev swung his big mace.
‘I want to feel the sting of your lash and I’ll jump so high his mace will not hit us and will pass under my belly,’ said Alo-Dino’s horse.
The Red Dev cast his mace three times, and three times it shot past under the belly of the horse, as Alo-Dino lashed him hard with his whip.
‘It’s my turn now,’ called Alo-Dino. ‘Stay where you are!’
He dug in his spurs and went at the monster brandishing his sword. He slashed off the three heads of the Red Dev with a single blow, then he sprang out of the saddle and cut off the monster’s ears and lips and tossed them into his saddlebags. He strode back to the house and said to the maiden: ‘Greetings, my dear sister-in-law.’
‘What do you mean your sister-in-law? I want to be your wife!’
‘No. You will wed my eldest brother after I get back.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To fetch Hazaran Bulbul.’
‘Don’t go, my dear. You will lose your head.’
‘I can’t turn back now. I’ve got to fetch Hazaran Bulbul no matter what happens.’
Alo-Dino sprang onto his horse and galloped away. He reached a land where everything was white—white earth, white rocks, white trees, white grass. And the Dev’s house was also white.
‘This,’ said the horse, ‘is the land of the White Dev. We’ll be his guests tonight. The White Dev has seven heads.’
‘Good,’ said Alo-Dino. ‘We’ll slash off all seven.’
They paused before the house of the White Dev, and saw that all the doors were shut. Alo-Dino called out in a loud voice: ‘Anybody in the house? I want somebody to lead my horse to the stable.’
He saw a maiden open the gate. ‘You can tie your horse in the stable,’ she said.
Alo-Dino did so, and entered the White Dev’s mansion. ‘Bring me some food and let me have my supper,’ he said.
She brought him six trays stacked high with rice and meat.
‘What do you take me for, a child? I said food, food!’
‘You are welcome to eat the White Dev’s portion if this isn’t enough.’
She had cooked about two hundred pounds of rice in a cauldron with twenty handles, topped off with three roast oxen. And Alo-Dino sat at the White Dev’s table and finished everything she set before him.
The house began to shake. ‘Why is this house shaking like this?’
‘The White Dev is coming home. Let me hide you before he gets back.’
‘Hide me? What for? I came here to kill the White Dev.’
The monster arrived, driving a whole howling herd of wild beasts before him—lions, bears, wolves, foxes. He left them in the yard and went up to the house.
‘Greetings, Alo-Dino!’ said the White Dev, shaking his hand.
‘How do you know I am Alo-Dino?’
‘On the day you were born the mountains, the rocks, the trees and the grass all hailed your birth. “Alo-Dino was born today!” they cried. And you must be Alo-Dino because no one else would dare enter my house.’
The White Dev called to the maiden: ‘Wife, bring us our supper.’
‘This boy ate your portion and left you nothing,’ she said.
‘That’s all right. We’ll butcher the beasts I just brought in. There is always plenty of fresh meat in this house.’
They butchered a few beasts, and Alo-Dino sat down with the White Dev to enjoy another tasty meal. The monster saw him swallowing everything he laid his hands on and not bothering to take the bones out of his mouth. He asked Alo-Dino after they finished eating: ‘Shall we fight now, or tomorrow morning?’
They agreed to fight in the morning.
They were up at daybreak. The White Dev swung his mace, and again Alo-Dino lashed his horse so hard that the monster’s mace shot past under its belly.
The White Dev called: ‘Ha! Where are you, Alo-Dino? I Can’t see you through all these clouds of dust.’
‘Stay where you are! It is now my turn,’ Alo-Dino called back.
The White Dev waited for the blow, and his seven heads flew off as Alo-Dino took a whack at him with his mighty sword. Alo-Dino sprang out of the saddle, cut off the ears and lips of the monster, tossed them into his saddlebags, and rode back to the house.
The maiden ran up to him crying: ‘Oh, my sweet, how wonderful of you to kill the White Dev! Oh, I want to kiss you for it!’
‘No, you can’t kiss me. You will wed my middle brother after I get back. I have to go now.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘To fetch Hazaran Bulbul.’
‘You can never do it!’
‘We’ll see if I can’t. Goodbye!’
He rode off, and three days later found himself in the land of another Dev. ‘Alo-Dino,’ said the horse, ‘as you see, here the earth is all black, the rocks are black, the trees are black, the grass is black—everything is black. This is the land of the forty-headed Black Dev.’
Alo-Dino entered the mansion of the Black Dev and saw about four hundred pounds of rice cooked in a copper cauldron with forty handles, topped off with four roast oxen. His mouth watered, he had not eaten anything for three days. He gobbled up all of this food. And here too the house began to shake, and the Black Dev came home, driving before him all the wild beasts he had caught in the woods. The monster went up to his house and saw a young fellow sitting there. ‘Must be Alo-Dino,’ he thought, and gripped his hand.
‘Alo-Dino!’
‘How do you know my name is Alo-Dino?’
‘I was out hunting in the mountains when the rocks, the trees, the grass, all hailed your birth. And I know that no one besides Alo-Dino can ever enter my house.’ The monster turned to the maiden: ‘Wife, bring us our supper.’
‘This boy already ate your portion,’ she said.
‘That’s all right, there is plenty of fresh meat in the yard.’
They butchered a few of the wild beasts and cooked another supper. The Black Dev saw how Alo-Dino swallowed the bones too, chewing up everything he thrust into his mouth.
They were up at daybreak to fight, and they fought for three days and three nights. At last Alo-Dino overcame the Black Dev. He cut off the monster’s ears and lips, tossed them into his saddlebags, and strode back to the house.
‘Oh, I am so glad you killed the Black Dev!’ cried the maiden. ‘From now on you are mine and I am thine.’
Alo-Dino needed a rest and stayed with her for a week; then he remembered the nightingale, and breathed a deep sigh.
‘What are you sighing for? Could you find a better wife than I am?’
‘Our orchard has dried up and I have to fetch Hazaran Bulbul. I have to go now. I can’t stay here any longer.’
‘The owner of Hazaran Bulbul is King Chachonts, who has been asleep for forty days. When he wakes up he can kill twenty heroes like you.’
‘I don’t care what happens to me. I have to go.’
Alo-Dino leaped into the saddle and galloped off to the great sea. The horse said: ‘Alo-Dino, I am not a sea-horse, and I can’t swim across.’
Alo-Dino turned the horse loose and stretched out on the seashore to take a nap. He slept with his head resting on a rock. Heaven only knows whether he was dreaming or not, but he heard a voice calling him: ‘Alo-Dino! Look under that rock.’
He woke up and found the bridle of a sea-horse under the rock he had used as a pillow. And soon a wild sea-horse sprang out of the waves and would have eaten him up if Alo-Dino had not held
onto its mane and thrust the bridle-bit between the horse’s teeth. He jumped onto its back.
‘Alo-Dino, tell me what you want and I will do my best to help you get it,’ said the sea-horse, who found his master in Alo-Dino.
‘I want to fetch Hazaran Bulbul.’
‘That won’t be easy. Hazaran Bulbul is kept in a cage that hangs in the window of a castle built at the very edge of the sea, and the castle belongs to King Chachonts. If I can’t leap high enough to reach the cage, and we both fall down into the sea from such a height, we’ll be killed, that’s sure.’
Alo-Dino lashed the sea-horse so hard that the three hundred and sixty-six veins in the horse’s body tingled and its liver burned from the pain. Up sprang the sea-horse in one mighty leap and Alo-Dino flew up to the window of the castle; his arm shot out and he grabbed the cage. Down went the horse, and Alo-Dino landed safely on the other side of the sea.
‘You can now dismount and go home,’ said the sea-horse.
Alo-Dino let the sea-horse go and mounted his own horse. Holding the cage, he rode back to the land of the Black Dev, and showed the nightingale to the maiden who was to be his own bride.
‘My dear Bulbul, speak up so that these black mountains will turn green,’ he said to the nightingale.
And the nightingale sang, and the black mountains turned green. The maiden was astonished by the bird’s magic power, and so was he. Alo-Dino lived in the monster’s house for a month or two. And then one day he told her: ‘O my bride, it’s time I went back to my own country with you. There is a terrible blight in our kingdom because this bulbul is not singing there.’
They gathered all the treasures of the Black Dev and rode off to the land of the White Dev, which also turned green as the nightingale sang again. The maiden who was to be the bride of the middle brother was eager to go along with them. They took the treasures of the White Dev too, and rode on to the land of the Red Dev. And here they rested for a day or two with the maiden intended for the eldest brother. She joined them, and loading all the treasures of the Red Dev on their horses, they galloped together across the Red land, that turned green by the singing of the the nightingale of a thousand songs.
Back at the crossroads where the Old Man was still waiting, Alo-Dino said: ‘Greetings, pappy.’
‘Did my two brothers come back?’
‘Not yet, King’s son.’
‘Then I’d better leave these three maidens and Hazaran Bulbul with you and go find my brothers.’
Alo-Dino rode from one city to another looking for his brothers, but there was no sign of them anywhere. At last on the advice of a man in another city he butchered seven oxen and gave a big feast in the church-yard. When the bells started ringing strangers and wayfarers came from all parts of the city to enjoy the free feast prepared for them. Alo-Dino saw his own brothers in the crowd, and as he moved around the tables to see that everybody had plenty to eat he offered his brothers wine and meat. They did not recognize him.
He asked his brothers: ‘Where do you work?’
‘We stoke the furnace and carry out the ashes in a public bath-house,’ they said.
Alo-Dino went to the bath-house with them, and said to the owner: ‘Pay them off. They are not going to work here any more. They are my brothers.’
Then turning to his brothers he said: ‘I am Alo-Dino, can’t you recognize me? You left our kingdom and came to work in this bath-house clad in those rags?’
At last they recognized him, and told him about their misfortunes.
‘To buy food we had to sell our horses and our clothing,’ they said. ‘And we ended up working in a bath-house.’
Alo-Dino told them how he snatched Hazaran Bulbul from the castle of King Chachonts. He bought his brothers new clothes and horses. Then he rode back to the crossroads with them, where the three maidens and the old man were waiting.
‘This one,’ said Alo-Dino, ‘was the bride of the Red Dev. I have his ears and lips in my saddlebaags.’ He showed them. ‘She will be your wife,’ he said to his eldest brother.
‘And this one was the bride of the White Dev. I killed him too, and I can show you his ears and lips to prove it. She will be your wife,’ he said to his middle brother.
‘And this one was the bride of the Black Dev. She is mine.’
‘He is keeping the prettiest one for himself,’ complained his oldest brother.
They took Hazaran Bulbul, mounted their horses, and started for home with the three brides. Heaven only knows how far they went until they reached a well in the woods.
‘Who will draw some water from this well?’ asked the older brothers. ‘The horses are thirsty, and we are thirsty.’
The middle brother refused to go down into the well, nor would the eldest. They expected Alo-Dino to draw the water.
‘Don’t,’ his bride warned him.
‘My brothers are thirsty,’ he said. ‘The horses are thirsty.’
‘Then take my glove and slipper with you.’
Alo-Dino took her glove and slipper, and was lowered into the well, not suspecting anything. His brothers left him in the well. They took the nightingale and rode home with the three maidens. When they reached their own city they sent a herald ahead to announce their arrival to the king. And the king came out to meet them with his chamberlain and councillors, and escorted them to the palace with great honours.
‘Who are these maidens?’ the king asked his two sons.
‘This one is my bride,’ said the eldest, ‘and this one is my brother’s bride. The girl over there is their maid.’
‘He is lying! I will never wed your eldest son!’ Alo-Dino’s bride protested.
‘Well, children, I see there is some disagreement here. Now tell me, who brought Hazaran Bulbul?’
The eldest son said ‘I did,’ and spoke to the bird: ‘Speak up, my dear bulbul, and turn our orchard green.’
The nightingale was silent.
The second brother leapt to his feet and said: ‘May the king live long, he didn’t bring Hazaran Bulbul, I did.’
‘Well, son, make this bird sing then.’
The nightingale remained silent.
And now let us return to the youngest brother.
Alo-Dino couldn’t get out of the well, and heaven only knows how long he stayed in it, until a merchant came along with his caravan and heard his cries for help. It took fifteen men to get him out of the well.
‘Who are you?, the merchant asked him.
‘I am a traveller. I fell into this well on a very dark night, when I couldn’t see a thing.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘I am going back to my city.’
Alo-Dino spent the night with this caravan as the merchant’s guest and had supper with him. The caravan started off the next morning and Alo-Dino went on to the city with the merchant.
Here, in his own city, Alo-Dino found work in the bazaar as an apprentice to a tailor, who had no idea who the boy was. Alo-Dino swept and cleaned the shop, carried water from the public fountain and worked hard. He made himself useful to his master, who took him for a bright, dependable lad and was glad to have him as an apprentice.
The next day the King’s chamberlain and councillors came to the bazaar and went to all the tailor shops showing a woman’s glove and wanting one to match it. They entered the shop where Alo-Dino sat in a corner and asked his master: ‘Can you make a glove to match this?’ The tailor took one look at the glove and said, ‘Sorry, I can’t.’
Alo-Dino sprang to his feet and said: ‘Master, take the king’s order! I can make a glove just like it.’
The master was annoyed. ‘You came here only yesterday as an apprentice and you think you can make a glove just like this when I say I can’t?’
‘Why don’t you let him try it?’ said the chamberlain. ‘If he can’t, we will strike off his head tomorrow.’
Alo-Dino was not worried. ‘Master, bring me five sacks of nuts and I will make that glove.’
The tailor went out and brought him four sacks of nuts. ‘Four sacks is plenty,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have enough money on me to buy five sacks.’
‘Well, master, you go home now and let me stay in the shop. The glove will be ready tomorrow morning.’
And the next morning the glove was ready. The tailor came back to his shop and found a pair of gloves on the counter that matched perfectly. And the chamberlain and the councillors were just as astonished as the tailor.
The master received his reward and was happy, but his apprentice quit. ‘I asked for five sacks of nuts and you gave me only four sacks,’ he said. ‘I don’t care to work for a miser.’
Alo-Dino next became an apprentice to a shoemaker. The king’s chamberlain and the councillors went from one shoe-shop to another with a woman’s slipper, but no shoemaker could match it. Alo-Dino’s new master said he could not. But Alo-Dino said he could, and his master got the order.
‘If we don’t have the slipper you lose your heads,’ the chamberlain warned them.
‘Master, bring me twenty sacks of nuts and I will make that slipper tonight.’
The shoemaker brought him only nineteen sacks of nuts.
‘Well, you go home now,’ said Alo-Dino. ‘The slipper will be ready tomorrow morning.’
The shoemaker watched his apprentice from the roof of the shop and saw him cracking and eating nuts. ‘How did I run into this fool?’ he said to himself. ‘I’ll lose my head in the morning.’ He was jittery all night.
But the next morning a pair of slippers that matched perfectly was ready for the king’s men. The shoemaker received his reward, and Alo-Dino quit.
‘I asked for twenty sacks of nuts, and you gave me only nineteen sacks. I don’t care to work for a miser.’
Alo-Dino wandered around in the bazaar and saw a lot of troops. ‘Whose warriors are these?’ he asked.
‘King Chachonts is looking for the man who stole Hazaran Bulbul, and if our King does not find the thief and hand him over, King Chachonts will smash the king’s throne,’ people told him.
Alo-Dino saw his eldest brother dismount before the red tent of King Chachonts and bow seven times before the king.
‘I was the one who took Hazaran Bulbul,’ Alo-Dino heard his eldest brother say to the king.
‘How? Where did you find my bulbul?’
‘In your woods.’
‘No, no, go away! Don’t waste my time.’
The middle brother rode out to the red tent, very proud on his horse, dismounted, bowed seven times and stood before King Chachonts with hands folded on his breast. Alo-Dino heard him tell how he caught the nightingale. ‘It was a dark night when all of a sudden I saw the bulbul flying off to its nest. I reached up and—’
‘No, no, you are lying!’ said King Chachonts, and ordered him out of his tent.
‘I will lay waste this whole land if the thief is not found and delivered to me!’ King Chachonts threatened.
Alo-Dino went up to the red tent and bowed.
‘You stole my Hazaran Bulbul?’
‘Yes, my king.’
‘How? Tell me.’
‘I rode out to the land of the Red Dev, who had three heads, and killed him. Then I rode to the land of the White Dev with seven heads, and killed him too. I kept going and reached the land of the Black Dev with forty heads, and killed the Black Dev also. Then, riding a sea-horse whose bridle I found under a rock, I crossed over to the other side of the sea and saw the cage hanging in a window of your castle. The sea-horse leapt so high in the air that I could reach the window. I took the cage with Hazaran Bulbul in it.’
‘Are you Alo-Dino?’
‘I am Alo-Dino.’
‘How can you prove what you said?
The lad opened his saddlebags and showed King Chachonts the ears and lips of the three monsters he slew.
This convinced the king. ‘Son, you can keep Hazaran Bulbul as a gift from me.’ And King Chachonts withdrew with his troops.
The youth who snatched Hazaran Bulbul was summoned to the palace. The old king wanted to meet him.
‘I am your son Alo-Dino, can’t you recognize me, father?’
The king wasn’t sure. ‘If you are really my son, Hazaran Bulbul will prove it.’
‘Speak, my dear Bulbul,’ Alo-Dino said to the bird of a thousand songs.
And the nightingale burst into a song that turned the king’s orchard green.
His two older sons confessed.
Alo-Dino said to his father: ‘My brothers did not kill me, and I don’t want to be the cause of their death. Let both marry their brides, and banish them from your kingdom, never to return as long as I live.’
The king died two years later, and Alo-Dino, now happily married to his own bride, sat on the throne as the new king.
They attained their wish, and may we likewise attain our wishes.