Minstrel

In one beautiful city that was famous for its stone houses and majestic churches, there lived a girl with big sad eyes. Local boys gazed at her thick dark hair. She loved to wear long  blue  dresses. They matched with her blue eyes. All day the girl had a lot of work. She  prepared meals for her family, washed, ironed, cleaned,  took care of  flowers in the beautiful garden near the house. Only occasionally in the evenings, when bright stars appeared in the sky, the girl was able to devote some time to herself. She began to dream about distant cities with rich beautiful palaces, the warm endless sea with white sailboats, about a good young man who, she was sure, was  looking for her everywhere. Because of hard work there  was not much joy in her life, but sometimes happiness  came to her. 

Several times a year minstrels came to her old city. They wore exquisite gowns made of velvet and played harps so wonderfully that even birds stopped singing and listened to their sad songs. Love lived in every song.

And once in the spring, when emerald  leaves had just appeared on the trees, white primroses appeared from the ground, and the sun shone brightly,  once again minstrels came. The girl saw them by accident when  she was returning from the market. In the evening they had to play and sing at the city's main square.

As soon as it started getting dark, almost everybody came to the square to listen to musicians.  The girl could not concentrate at work. She waited for the performance. After completing all the work earlier than usual, she ran to the square in order to take place in the first row.

And so the concert began. In one of the singer picked up the harp and sang so magically  that the world stood still, listening to the subtle play. The minstrel stood in the middle of the huge city square, lonely and sad. The girl  saw his brown eyes and realized that he was the person that she was ready to love for the rest of her  life. Suddenly the concert was over, and the girl sat, unable to move from the shock. 

It's been a few days. Every evening the minstrel played at the main square. The girl did not miss a single concert. And every time after she wanted to approach him and say, "Take me with you. I'll follow you everywhere." But she did not dare. 

The minstrel left the city. And the girl stayed.  She  thought of the minstrel every single day. 

The days went by. The girl continued to do her usual business. All was the same as before, except one. Now in the hours of solitude she had been thinking about the boy with brown eyes. He did not come out of her mind.

Local young men one after another were asking her to marry, because she was beautiful and smart, but she refused to all, not able to forget the artist.

Several times after minstrels came to the city, she was trying to see a young man among them , but he wasn't.

So it's been a few years. And suddenly he came again. The girl ran to the square to watch the concert and decided that now, after the concert she  would come to him and say about her feelings.

But when  the show started, the girl saw that the minstrel was not alone, but with a beautiful young singer and they sang a duet. In frustration, the girl ran home.

After a few days the artists  gone. The girl agreed to marry her longtime admirer.

It was a modest wedding. The girl was an exemplary wife and a good housekeeper.  Her husband loved her, she tried to take care of him. And only once a year, when green leaves appeared on the trees,  she went outside the city to the river and dreamed about her minstrels with  brown intelligent eyes.