Sparrow soup

"I look, you poor fellow, all trembling!" the highlander sympathized.

"So let's first quickly cook" sparrow soup "and then when you eat hot, then we will cook pilaf together and you will see everything yourself, just don't ask questions. I like silence during cooking!" he remarked good-naturedly smiling.

The highlander took out 40 sparrows from the snake, their paws were tied with a thin but flexible twig. He blew sparrows, cutting off his head. Cleverly cleared of feathers. He cut small carcasses with his knife, gutted them. Once fervent thieves now lay in small bodies on a large stone. They were light pink.

Having taken rock salt from a leather bag, the mountaineer carefully rubbed it in a stone mortar, adding spices in the form of thyme and cumin to salt.

When the salt was already almost like dust, the highlander rubbed the bodies of sparrows well with this compound. Leaving them for a while, he himself went to get water.

Water spurted from a spring near his house. While he poured water into a leather bucket, carried it and poured it into a large cast-iron pot, it was time for the sparrow bodies to be lowered into the pot.

Meanwhile, Shir Ali decided to ask the highlander what year and month it is.

What did he look up in surprise and ask "how long have you been on the road"?

Shir Ali replied, "we left about 90 days ago. But then we got lost in the desert during a dust storm and wandered in the desert for an unknown time."

"Ah, well, now is the 25th day of the month of Safar, 586 of the Hijra!" the highlander deftly closed the lid of the pot and set it on the hearth with burning firewood.

Shir Ali was numb ... of which year 586 ... it means I was in 1190 and it seems the case is closer to the end of August and the beginning of September ...

"It can't be!" "Apparently I had a good bow to my head!" "No, something is wrong here!" "Well, maybe this is a dream? Then at least I know the recipes!" so he reassured himself.

"Sleep ?! It's not scary, is it?" flashed through his head.

In the meantime, the highlander set the soup to simmer on low heat, then went to the tree, took some fruits like a dog rose, near the source he peeled a couple of sheets of mint and threw them into the pot.

He looked at Shir Ali, "do you have any spices"? "You're a merchant"?

But Shir Ali had nothing. So he just nodded his head, which means in India, as in Small Ahn, that there is nothing.

"It's a pity"! said the highlander. And Shir Ali thought that the next time in a dream, you need to have spices with you.

Although wait, he still had the spices that he picked up on a lonely mountain, the smell was so good that he made a secret pocket in his jacket. Where he wore several dozen stamens of that plant. For 1 year they did not lose their aroma.

Shir Ali took out a pinch of stamens. And then with a gesture, he asked the mountaineer to extend his palm.

He surprisedly followed his request.

Shir Ali laid out a little whisper, they were dark red in color and had an unforgettable aroma!

The highlander bulged his eyes, his mighty hand trembled quietly. This pinch was not easy. He knew that it was a very expensive spice. For 1 such pinch, he could buy 10 fat rams and get 5 gold coins!

But he was struck by fearlessness, trust, naivety, stupidity, the generosity of his little guest! The little guest did not regret him a simple peasant, such a luxurious gift!

"Well, you're a man!" "You ... well, thanks, respected old man!"

"I have not seen this for 40 years!"

"Thank you, son!"

"Now the soup will succeed"!

"But don't show it to others!" the shocked mountaineer breathed out exhilaratingly.

"Well, grandfather, I know that you have a guest above all else, I would not show this to bad people!" immediately found what to answer Shir Ali.

"Yeah, and where did you find it?" the highlander asked.

"Grandfather, I found this during our trip to the desert of the red dragon, there is a high rock, and flowers grew there. They were purple and only three stamens of orange. I collected them then," Shir Ali honestly said. Having only concealed that it was the 11th day of the month of Rabi al-Aval of 1410 according to the Khizhra.

"Here it is!" "I have not been to those places!" "you are very lucky"! with some envy in his voice, the highlander remarked. But then, patted his nails and smiled. Said, "Lucky for you!"

"But thanks for sharing your luck and happiness with me!" "I will not forget this and will tell you my recipe for medicinal pilaf from pumpkin juice!"

In the meantime, let's take a little soup and breed a couple of stamens in it. He carefully took two stamens and threw them into a small clay bowl, and after a moment the soup acquired a pleasant aroma and a noble golden hue. And the highlander neatly wrapped the remaining stamens in cloth, then put it in a leather bag and went into the back of the house. Hide now the most valuable thing in the entire mountain village.

This would be the famous Saffron, if Prince Small-An knew about him, he would have erased this village in an instant. It was a very generous and at the same time risky gift. But the highlander did not throw everything away since saffron could treat a cough, give strength to the body, and could help cure many diseases. It was a cure!

In the meantime, the highlander saw by lifting the lid of the pot that the meat was already behind the bone. It took about 1 hour. He removed the fire; before that, the soup was cooked over a small fire.

Raising the lid, he poured a tincture of saffron, giving the soup a new aroma and taste, not to mention the color!

A thin stream of aroma began to spread throughout the house. Forcing before this household hiding from a stranger to appear from all doors and closets. They pulled their noses toward the amazing sparrow stew.

Agile daughters, highlanders, laughing, quickly ran out, with large clay bowls, mischievously looking at the little boy, in wonderful city clothes. Their eyes shone brightly with magic fire!

In bowls, the girls chopped finely, wild green onions, skillfully poured the broth. Then a wife came out, a highlander, pulled out of her guided stash, a small dark jug. The neck of which was covered with a canvas cloth. With a wooden spoon, she took out the sheep's fat tail oil, and carefully placed it in the bowls. And then everyone poured soup.

The aroma was very tasty ...