Duke Donskoy spoke to his servant Ivan: “In wintertime the rare Almaz birds come to roost in our land. Their stay here is fleeting, only for a few days do they rest before departing to remoter regions. Since this is the first solstice festival that I will preside over, an Almaz shall sing its song for us.”
Ivan replied: “Ah sir, those birds are strong, nimble, and alert to everything around them. To capture one is an impossibility. Men of your father’s and grandfather’s courts tried and failed to achieve such a task.”
“And why should that deter us?” retorted the duke. “Are we cowards, attempting nothing! The song of the Almaz is sweeter than wine, grander than a cathedral and sends all who listen into pure enrapture. An Almaz bird shall sing at my festival!”
It soon reached the ears of the duke that a local hawker, Fyodor Perov had in fact accomplished the impossible and was the proud owner of a fabled Almaz bird. He was summoned before the duke and he did indeed hold in his gloved hand, the prized animal.
“How,” asked Duke Donskoy in admiration, “did you catch and tame that creature?”
“Oh,” Fyodor replied with no hint of self-flattery, “the answer is simple enough, I raised it from an egg.”
The court rose in outrage at what they took to be a sullen jest.
“He cheated,” they cried, “We all broke our backs trying to spear or net those wretched birds! And this oafish simpleton stole an egg? Has he no honour? No sense of fairness?”
But the duke silenced the crowd as he spoke aloud:
“This man accomplished the task, by taking the most sensible route. It matters little if he never plucked a bird from the sky. That was not what was asked of him. He achieved his goal in his own way, by his own means, saving himself the tedium of attempting the impossible. Others can only think of succeeding in front of an admiring audience, in doing so they neglect their true goal, seeing only one solution out of many, desiring fame rather than charity. This sensible Fyodor shall be placed in a better position than a mere hawker.”
That night the bird sang, and it was indeed the finest song heard in the land.
