Provided by Irina from copilariefericita

   In a village in Egypt lived a poor boy, which had a slow mind and a slow body. His greatest joy was to take long walks along the shore of river Nile. He did this every day. His mother was afraid that one day the boy will fall asleep and he will roll into the water and die drowned.

   In one of the days, the boy found on his way a wooden stick and he thought to make himself a flute and this is what he did. Since that day, the boy would take his handmade flute and walk along Nile’ shore and would stop from time to time and sit in the grass and play nice songs on his flute.

   One day, while the boy was walking to the city, he saw a high wall. He thought he should climb it and admire the world from up above. And he climbed. Being up on the wall, the boy was amazed to see many colorful and beautiful buildings, to see the people moving around on the streets, to hear all sorts of voices and noises. He also saw a very rich garden and in the middle of it was sitting the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. So, the boy started to play his flute as loud as he could, while thinking that the girl will hear him and will notice him. But the girl didn’t make any move and she continued to look towards the horizon.

   The next day, the boys came back to the wall, climbed it and admired again the girl in the garden and he started to play his flute. This time, the boy only could play a sad song, while the girl was still, not moving or looking in his direction.

   The third day, the boy climbed again up the wall and he saw the girl sitting in the middle of that rich garden. On his flute, he played the most joyful song he knew, but the girl remained indifferent, looking straight to the horizon.

   As the evening was approaching, the boy got off the wall and he started walking back to his home. He passed by some women who were talking about the princess, who was the pharaoh’s daughter, who sits every day in her garden and listens to a wonderful flute music played by a mysterious musician.

   Hearing this, the boy became very sad realizing that he had fallen in love with the princess, but the princess would never love him, because he was poor, and he had a slow mind and a slow body.

   Disheartened and bitter, the boy continued to walk, and on his way he met some mercenaries. The men asked the boy if he wants to go along with them. As he thought his life had no meaning, he agreed. One day, the boy heard the mercenaries talking about a magician who lives in the middle of the desert and who can take an old soul and give back a new one.

   The boy suddenly became very excited and told the mercenaries he must go and find the magician. He began on searching the magician for days, and after some time he found him, sitting in his tent. The boy entered the tent in a rush and he was very thrilled:

   “I am so glad that I found you”, the boy said. “I heard you can take an old soul and give back a new soul. What can I do to get a new soul? What can I give you in return?”

   The magician was very quiet and he looked at the boy, not saying a word, and after some time he spoke: “Calm down, sit and let’s drink tea together.” The boy was so restless that he barely could sit. They drank tea, and after a while, the boy started asking again a lot of questions about exchanging an old soul with a new one.

   “For this I need you to give me your flute as payment”, said the magician.

   The boy looked with sorrow at his precious flute, and said to the magician: “I will give it to you because I don’t have anything else to offer”.

   “What kind of a soul do you want?” asked the magician.

   The boy answered very quickly: “The soul of a brave warrior!”

   “Be as you wish!” said the magician and gave the boy a new soul.

   Back home, in his village, the boy’s mother, seeing that her son didn’t come back, she thought that he had fallen into the river Nile and died drowned, so she organized a big funeral for him, where she called the family and all friends to participate.

   When the flute musician stopped playing, the pharaoh’s daughter, became worried, so she asked her servants to find out what have happened. The people in the village told them that the boy with the flute had died, drowned in the river Nile.

   Five years had passed. It was a time of war in Egypt. The boy, now a mighty warrior, was the leader of a group of men from the pharaoh’s army, which he took into the battle and won it with glory.

   When the pharaoh heard about the victory, he asked the warrior to come to the palace for a reward. So, the warrior arrived at the palace, and next to the pharaoh, he saw the princess – stunning, elegant and graceful.

   The pharaoh offered him gold and money and power, but the warrior refused all the treasures and the leading position, asking instead to have the permission to marry the pharaoh’s daughter.

   At that moment, with shyness, the princess approached the boy and said to him: “Many years ago I have fallen in love with someone, but that boy had died, drowned in the Nile, so since then I can’t love anyone else.”

   The warrior quietly looked at the princess and said: “I understand. Many years ago I have also felt a deep love like yours, so I cannot force you to get married.”

   The warrior took a step back, asked the permission to withdraw himself, said farewell to the pharaoh and to his daughter and walked out from the palace. He walked his way straight to the desert and since then no one has ever seen him again and no one has heard anything about him ever again.

Story credit: The Boy with the Flute – an African traditional story told by Boaz Zur, adapted and rewritten by Irina (copilariefericita)

About Irina: a playful spirit, a blazing dancer, an ecstatic storyteller

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   If you enjoyed the story and found a bit of wisdom in it or a drop of magic, I would like to know:

   What does it mean for you to have an old soul and what does it mean for you to have a new soul?

Thank you!

Irina