Atondido Stories
So Vitazko took the bagpipes and went to the castle. He
played under the castle windows and his mother looked out and
beckoned him in.
He went inside and played and Sharkan and his mother
danced to his music. They danced and danced until they could
dance no longer.
Then they gave the old piper food and drink and offered him
golden money.
But Vitazko said:
"Nay, what use has an old man for gold?"
"What then can I give you?" the woman asked.
Vitazko looked slowly about the chamber as an old man
would.
"Give me that heart," he said, "that hangs from the ceiling.
That's all I want."
So they gave him the heart and Vitazko thanked them and
departed.
He carried the heart to Nedyelka who washed it at once in
the Water of Death and the Water of Life. Then she placed it in
the bill of the bird, Pelikan, and Pelikan, reaching its long thin
neck down Vitazko's throat, put the heart in its proper place. The
heart began to beat and instantly Vitazko could again feel joy
and pain and grief and happiness.
"Now can you feel?" Nedyelka asked.
"Yes," Vitazko said. "Now, thank God, I can feel again!"
"Pelikan," Nedyelka said, "for this service you shall be
freed.... As for you, my son, you must go back to the castle once
more and inflict a just punishment. I shall change you into a pi-
geon. Fly to the castle and there, when you wish to be yourself
again, think of me."
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