Between the blue Devil and the red Sea

The legend has been told many times to young kids by their older relatives all around the greater Bengal. Earliest accounts of the legend itself goes back to the writings of the great Turkish General Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji. Since then the story has been told to many, which has led to many different versions of it arising. This is an attempt to publish the most accurate version of the legend, the version that most likely is true to its original source.

A long time ago, there was this city, a city with no name, and in that nameless city lived 6,000 people. It wasn't really a city, more like a dozen or so villages that formed an alliance to keep bandits and raiders out, but they still called it a city. In all aspects, those lands were normal and good... save in one little corner.

Every year, right around the onset of winter, a grotesque phenomena use to happen. The dead would come out of their graves to satiate their hunger by devouring human flesh. The villagers had to kill them by taking their heads off and then burning their bodies, so the same dead couldn't rise the following year. They never burned bodies of folks who died as normal beings, as the villagers believed that fire was an instrument of hell, but they had no qualms with burning the bodies of the dead because for all they knew, those dead ones could have been denizens of Hell. Nobody knew why the phenomena used to happen or when it started, it just had become a part of their lives.

On an unfortunate year, the city had been involved in a battle with the infamous bandit group Taraza. They were successful in destroying Taraza but not without losing a lot of strong men themselves.

What that meant for the city was that there would be far more dead folks rising from their graves that year, and far too less were there to fight. So it was decided that on the eve of the last full moon before the onset of winter, they would be leaving the city and head for the Golden Kingdom of Stakaniz. They could have left earlier but the crops had to be collected and preserved, for such a large migration needed heavy resources.

But the plan never came into action, for the date keeper, whose duty it was to keep the track of date and time, purposefully misled the entire city so that they don't escape before the rising of the dead. He was to be stoned to death for an attempted molestation of a widow. They pardoned him when he begged for mercy but the date keeper never forgot the humiliation. That was his opportunity to take revenge against the entire village.

As it happened, the village folks were caught off guard. So unprepared were they that only two persons were able to escape. One was the Date keeper and the other one was a small golden eyed boy of 12.

The boy kept on running, running through the field into the road and then running on the road. He hadn't a faint idea of where to go but after seeing his entire family being devoured by the walking dead, any place was better than the city.

He ran for what seemed like an eternity, until his legs gave way and he fainted. Waking up at the first light of dawn, the boy started thinking. He knew the only safe place near was the golden kingdom of Stakaniz and the road led directly to it. So the golden boy started walking.

During high noon, he reached a bridge. The kingdom was over the river that passed under that bridge. Walking up to the bridge, the boy suddenly noticed how large it was. His entire village could be put on that bridge and there would still be space left. It was sturdy enough also to not break under the weight of the entire village folk. Everything was going smoothly when suddenly a large hand appeared on the left side of the bridge. A gigantic thing came to his sight. The boy had never seen the likes of that monstrosity. It came up to him, with a large thud on each of his step.

" You boy, What business have you in this bridge?" asked the thing.

"My business is to reach the Golden Kingdom of Stakaniz, sir." said the golden boy.

" Ha! You know this is a troll's bridge. You have to pay to get across." said the troll.

" I don't have anything, sir. I do have a couple of apples, if you want them." said he.

" That won't do. Everyone has to pay something, that's the law. However, you seem like a very well mannered boy. I will give you this... Answer my riddle and you can pass" said the troll.

"What if I can't, sir?" he asked.

" Well then I have to eat you. Laws of the king, you know." said the troll

The boy knew he wasn't smart. Trying to answer the riddle could get him eaten alive, so he decided not to play the game. Plus, his grandma always used to say, never trust a bridge troll.

" Thank you sir, for your help, but I would rather not answer anything. Answering riddle has never been my strong point, so I am not going to put the chance of me being eaten alive on that. Thank you again sir and goodbye." with that, the boy went back to the road.

Somehow the golden boy had to cross the river. If he could get past that, he would be well on his way to the kingdom. He kept walking on the road, which took a left turn on the bridge. After walking for hours, he stopped to take some rest. It was almost twilight, with just the faintest streak of orange still left in the sky. He looked at the river and saw something strange. It was getting foggy out of nowhere and in the midst of the fog was a boat, being rowed by a man.

The boat came to the edge of the bank and then the stranger asked the boy " Do you want to cross the river?"

The stranger was cloaked in all black and he was tall. Some said he resembled the Grim Reaper. Seeing that, along with the frightful voice, he asked shakily.

"What would I owe you sir?"

" Very well, my child, very well. What I ask from you, for getting you across the river, is to give me something that you love most in this world." said he.

It hardly seemed like a fair trade. The thing that he loved most, just to get across the river, he wasn't buying it. Also, he remembered his grandmother telling him stories about The Ferryman, who would always be found in river banks and would get you across rivers but in return would take your life away as the payment.

" Thank you sir, but I would rather walk down this lovely road here." and with that the Golden boy rose up and walked away.

He walked and kept walking till the moon was shining brightly amidst the dark night sky. At last he came to a new sight. It was the entrance to a forest. The entrance was between two trees which had interlocked in such a way as to give a door like appearance. The boy was about to enter when he remembered another story, told by an elder, about the forest Nirvala, the forest of no return. No one who entered Nirvala had ever returned.

The golden boy was afraid. He didn't know what sort of devilry was inside that Nirvala, so he was backing off when he heard the sound of the living dead coming towards him. They were close, maybe even within eye sight. He had no other choice but to escape into Nirvala.

Once inside the forest, no sound could be heard. and everything was pitch black. He kept walking and walking, bumping into an odd tree here and there. It wasn't long until the boy realized that he had been walking for a long time and by then there should have been some change but he didn't let that bother him.

It wasn't until 7 days later that he finally began to despair. No end in sight and everything was green and black, no sunlight could enter the dense forest. He started running, running as fast his legs could take him, hoping that the speed god rescues him. Tripping on a root, he flew across the ground and landed face first.

Upon opening his eyes, he could finally see an opening. He stumbled towards, but he managed to get there somehow. When he came out in the sunlight, he saw everyone. Everyone he loved and cherished, his mother, his grandparents, his brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles and cousins, and even his father. Everyone seemed much happier and joyful than they were before. One of his cousin ran towards him and said

" Welcome to heaven"

" Wait, did I die?" asked The boy.

" Yes. That's how you came here." said the girl.

" When did I die and how?" asked he.

" Oh. You might have died when you were running away from the living dead. You might have also died when you were at the Troll bridge, smashed by the Troll or maybe the Ferryman took your life in exchange for getting you across the river. Or you could have died in Nirvala but who cares now.. You are here with us in heaven. Let us go and join the others." and with that she took him to the table, holding hands, and introduced him to everyone.