: A young Greek sculptor goes on a journey, falls into slavery, experiences many dangerous adventures, finds freedom, crosses Africa, returns home and marries his beloved.

Prologue

The second half of the XX century. In one of the Leningrad museums gem is stored - a transparent bluish-green stone with carved figures of a naked girl and three hugging warriors.

The mysterious stone does not correspond to the locality where it was found, nor to the time to which it is attributed. One of the scientists studying gemma believes that the soldiers depicted on it are slaves fighting for freedom.

Chapter one. Apprentice Artist

Northern Greece XI-IX centuries.yek BC. The young man Pandion lived with his grandfather in a stone hut on the seashore.

The father of the young man was a warrior and died in battle. Grandfather wanted his grandson to also become a warrior and constantly make him exercise, Pandion dreamed of becoming an artist, and studied with the sculptor Agenor.

The day came when my grandfather, not wanting to burden his grandson, went to live with one of his daughters, Pandion settled with his teacher. A year has passed. Pandion, in love with the daughter of the sculptor Tessa, tried to fashion a statue of a girl, but could not convey her beauty and this tormented him.

It’s bad when a person ‹...› is obsessed with searches - then love will not cure him of eternal longing ...

Agenor showed the student a statue of a woman who had appeared alive from Crete. Pandion decided to go to Crete, although such a trip was dangerous - a lone traveler could easily become a slave. Before leaving, Tessa took a vow from Pandion that he would not go further than Crete and in six months would return to her.

Chapter Two Foam country

Pandion spent five months in Crete. Before leaving, the young man tried to capture the warriors of the tribe from the central part of the island. He broke free and jumped into the sea from a sheer cliff. The young man was seen from a Phoenician merchant ship and saved.

The owner of the ship offered Pandion a choice: to become either a rowing slave or a warrior. The young man had to become a warrior of a Phoenician merchant.

The ship was heading to the capital of Phenicia (south of modern Syria). On the way, a strong storm began, which carried the ship to the shores of Egypt. Since any stranger who came to Ancient Egypt automatically became a slave, the team decided that Pandion brought them misfortune, was going to sacrifice him to the gods, and Pandion had to save his life - jump into the raging waves.

The insensitive Pandion was found on the shore of the Egyptian warriors. The young man was sent to the capital as a gift to the pharaoh.

There is no worse condition for a man than being alone among strangers and hostiles in an incomprehensible and unknown country ...

Pandion was branded, settled in a shen - a workhouse - and forced to serve the gardens and canals of the palace. From suicide, the young man was restrained only by the hope of release.

Chapter Three Pharaoh's slave

Pandion made friends - Kidogo, a black sculptor from central Africa and the dark black-bearded Etruscan Cavi, who was captured during a military campaign.

This group of strong slaves began to be sent to dismantle old temples and build new ones. Soon the sculptor of the pharaoh noticed the talent of Pandion and Kidogo and took them to him.

The giant temples of Egypt were not admired, but suppressed Pandion.

Real art is in a joyful and simple fusion with life.

The young man missed his friends left in the Shen, and realized that it was much more difficult to escape from the sculptor alone than to all together - from the working house.

The sculptor wished Pandion get married and his children become family slaves. The young man rebelled, he was beaten and returned in a shen. After him, Kidogo also returned, having specially defeated the sculptor's workshop.

Chapter Four. Fight for freedom

During the construction of the temple, Pandion rescued an Egyptian slave convicted of slavery for looting ancient tombs. He said that Egypt is a prison for free Egyptians. Only priests and nobles traveled freely here, and slaves were forbidden to communicate with the poor - the pharaoh was afraid of organized rebellions.

It was possible to get out of a country sandwiched between impassable deserts only by raising a revolt. It turned out that Chene Pandion is located in the middle of the Nile Valley, and it is separated from the sea by many kilometers. The Egyptian gave Pandion a transparent, bluish-green stone from an ancient temple, which became a talisman for a young man.

Pandion persuaded Cavi to raise the slaves to revolt, for which everything was already ready. At night the rebellion began. Instead of going into the desert with the guide found by Kavi, the liberated slaves began to plunder the estates of the rich. Help came to the guards, and only two hundred people left the desert, obeying the order of Kavi.

A heavy hike began. In the middle of the path, the detachment fell into a sandstorm. Survivors, including Pandion, Kavi and Kidogo, had to return to the nearest source, where they were captured by Egyptian warriors. Ten days later, the rebels were sent to the Gate of the South, "in the terrible gold mines of the country of Nub."

The chief of the Gate of the South was ordered to catch a living rhino and deliver it to the palace of the pharaoh. Rhinos were dangerous and fierce, the chief decided not to risk his warriors, but to entrust this to the slave rebels, in return having promised them freedom.

Chapter Five Golden steppe

A hundred rebels and forty black slaves set off on the African steppe and caught a huge rhino that killed many slaves. Pandion broke his arm, severely bruised his head and lost consciousness for a long time.

Slaves were released, but forbidden to return to Egypt. Returnees will again fall into slavery. One of the Nubian warriors advised Kavi to find a tribe of peaceful nomadic herders and gave a sign thanks to which the nomads would hospitably welcome travelers.

The group was divided. Asians traveled north to get home faster. Kidogo led the rest to the south, to his tribe, who lived on the shore of the ocean bay, where the Sons of the wind often sailed — white people in large ships. With their help, former slaves could return home.

Carrying Pandion on a stretcher, travelers reached the nomad camp. The sign helped - the nomads hospitably met the former slaves.

Great is the power of the same feelings in people subject to the same hardships, and friendly help does wonders!

The leader, Kidogo, Kavi, and not having regained consciousness of Pandion, settled the leader in a separate house. Iruma, the only daughter of the best tribe hunter, liked the handsome young man.

Chapter Six Dark road

The bones of Pandion were fused, but the young man did not get out of bed. Slaves from Africa went home. The 27 people remaining under the command of Kavi wanted to go out to the bay as soon as possible, but Pandion's disease delayed them.

Iruma performed a ritual over the youth, returning vitality, in which only women participated. The recovering Pandion fell in love with Iruma, but realized that he would forever remain a stranger in this tribe, and left with everyone.

The detachment left the savannah teeming with predators and turned into the jungle that grew along the rivers. During the 25 days of the journey, eight more people left the detachment.

Chapter Seven. The power of forests

Once in the impenetrable thicket of solid bamboo, the travelers decided to return to the savannah and find people who would tell them the way. Soon they met the inhabitants of the tribe of the Elephant Lords.The elders of the tribe allowed the travelers to stay.

The tribe not only tamed the elephants, but also cultivated the earth, made dishes from clay. In the pottery workshop, Kidogo and Pandion showed their skill. One of the elders saw this and asked Pandion to fashion his image from clay.

Pandion's mastery increased, and the elder's bust was a success. As a reward, the old man promised to help travelers to get to the sea and presented Pandion with a bag of diamonds that were not yet known in his homeland. He wanted Pandion, returning home, to tell everyone about his tribe.

The peoples should know each other, and not wander in the dark, blindly, like herds of animals in the steppe or in the forest.

Friends were allowed to watch how warriors trap elephants, so that later they can be tamed. During the hunt, something went wrong and many people died. The hunt manager was so upset that he forgot his friends in the middle of the savannah.

Chapter Eight. Sons of the wind

At night, a beast resembling a huge hyena attacked friends. They managed to kill the monster, but all three were badly injured. In the morning, the Elephant Lords found friends and called them great warriors, because they killed a gishu - the horror of the night and the devourer of pachyderms.

Having recovered from their wounds, the travelers moved to the ocean together with a detachment sent for healing nuts and gold. Having reached the large river, the travelers said goodbye to the Elephant Lords, built a raft and reached the Kidogo tribe. The remaining blacks dispersed to their native tribes. Only Cavi, Pandion and ten Libyans awaited the sons of the wind.

So that friends had something to pay the Sons of the wind for places on the ships, Kidogo got gold and ebony. Pandion, meanwhile, decided to carve a portrait of Tessa on a bluish-green stone, but he only got a collective image of all the beauties he met. Then the young man depicted himself, Kavi and Kidogo, on a stone.

Finally, the Sons of the wind arrived. Pandion and Kavi said goodbye to Kidogo, who remained here on the edge of Oikumena (populated land), and went home.

Some time has passed. Pandion safely returned home and married Tessa. Gemma, which in Greece began to be considered the greatest work of art, the young man gave the Keti Etruscan as a souvenir.