When asked a question by his nine-year-old daughter Arishka, her father was at a loss. He didn’t have an answer…
He wasn’t a priest to discourse about God. Vasiliy was known in the district as a skilled stove setter, dexterous and always ready to work. Building a stove was his expertise, but answering such complex questions was beyond his peasant wisdom.
The young man himself wished to understand why life was so unfair to him. He didn’t drink, was hardworking, adored his daughter, yet tragedy had not spared him.
After childbirth, his young wife fell ill and faded away within six months, not helped by city doctors or village healers. After the funeral, Vasiliy and one-year-old Arishka were left completely alone. The young widower had to be both a father and a mother to his daughter. But he managed, and the girl grew up clever and pretty, admired by all.
Although he and Arishka lived amicably, at night Vasiliy was tormented by longing for his wife and pity for his daughter. His daughter had just turned ten, growing wild without a mother’s affection and a woman’s attentive gaze.
But to indulge in sorrow before Christmas was a sin, on a bright holiday one should rejoice, not mourn the dead.
Vasiliy sighed heavily and began to distract Arishka from her sad thoughts:
«It’s unknown to us, my daughter, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable. Let’s rather I teach you how to always find your way home. See that brightest star shining in the sky?»
Arishka looked up and marveled at the beautiful star that shone like a large gem amidst the small pearls on the black velvet sky.
«They call it the North Star or the Midnight Star because it appears in the sky at midnight. And it leads all latecomers to their homes. With its help, we’ll be home soon, sit down to dinner and celebrate Christmas,» Vasiliy reasoned to the rhythmic creak of the sled on the well-trodden road.
The star in the sky seemed to wink at the girl enchanted by its beauty — do not be afraid, I am always with you.
The father continued to teach his daughter wisdom:
«If the North Star shines directly in your face, you will surely reach our home. No matter where from, you can always find your way by it.»
The girl laughed and reached out, trying to touch the shining beauty:
«Star, bring me my beloved mother!»
Vasiliy did not have time to scold his daughter for her impossible wish. He didn’t have time for anything… Because something terrible happened to the delayed travelers on the deserted road.
Suddenly, in the twilight, a bold whistle sounded, and dark figures surrounded the sled. Twisted dirty faces, axes in hands, and wild looks full of malice in the darkness left no hope.
Vasiliy immediately realized — they were attacked by robbers who operated on the main road.
He barely managed to throw his daughter off the sled into a snowdrift, and bewildered Arishka did not even realize what had happened. The uncle briefly cried out:
«What are you doing, villains!» — and with a groan, he fell under the blow of an axe before his daughter’s eyes, who froze in horror in the ditch by the roadside.
The white snow instantly blackened from the flow of his blood. The robbers began to search their victim and his sled for loot. Quickly, they snatched warm trousers, felt boots, and a sheepskin coat from the motionless Vasiliy and stashed away the purse with today’s earnings hidden in his bootleg.
They threw the master’s tools into their bottomless bags, unhitched the horse from the sled, and disappeared into the darkness.
The road became quiet and deserted again, as if there had been no robbers. Only the empty sled without a horse, all in shreds of hay bedding, stood there. And next to it lay Vasiliy, stripped to his undergarments in a crimson pool.
Choking on sobs, Arishka crawled out of the snowdrift and ran to her father:
«Uncle, uncle, wake up!»
He croaked with his last breath:
«Follow the star home!» — jerked in a convulsion and slumped forever on the icy ground of the roadside ditch.
In vain the girl wiped his face with her hands and shook her father. He lay heavy and indifferent to his daughter’s bitter crying.
When the cold made Arishka’s legs numb, she gave up. All she could do was push bundles of straw under the cooling body to make it softer for her uncle to lie on.
Then she trudged in the darkness almost by touch along the white trail of the winter road, where not a single traveler was left. Everyone was sitting in warm houses and homes, celebrating the bright festival of Christmas.
Tears streamed down the girl’s cheeks and froze into icy dew on her eyelashes. From the cold and fatigue, she had almost no strength left, she desperately wanted to lie down on the road and fall asleep under a snowy blanket.
But through the cold haze, the guiding star shone, calling the girl to it, leading her home.
Arishka trudged with the last of her strength toward her village, though she didn’t understand why. No one was waiting for her there… She was no longer needed or loved by anyone. In an instant, she became an orphan without a father and mother, which meant she would be sent to strict nuns in a state orphanage.
And as if confirming her dark thoughts, the North Star blinked and was extinguished by the approaching clouds. The world around became impenetrably black, and the last landmark disappeared for the unfortunate girl.
Arishka frantically scrambled on the road, clumsily slid on icy felt boots on the edge of the road, and fell waist-deep into a deep snowdrift. Helplessly, she floundered in the snowy thickness, somehow crawled onto the solid surface, and froze in confusion.
Where to go? In which direction? She was completely lost! Her guiding star was gone, and now she could never return home.
The girl curled up into a ball on the ground and waited for her death. Let her life end here, in the darkness and cold of the deserted road.
There would be no more good in her life. No merry Christmas in a warm home, no decorated tree, no gifts crafted by her father’s hands. No one would ever pat her head, offer her a piece of candy, no one needed an orphaned wretch. She would freeze to death, and no one would notice…
Just then, in the pitch-black darkness, a bright point suddenly flared up and ignited into a white round star.
With difficulty, Arishka stood up — one must not give up, one must reach home, as her uncle commanded. While the star burns, while it shows her the way, she will keep moving through the frigid cold and terrible darkness.
Step by step, the freezing girl trudged toward the shining light. Unexpectedly, it began to multiply, grow, igniting with new and new lights.
At the sight of the shining starry scattering, Arishka found strength inside, as if someone gently took her by the arm and led her toward the starlight. Through frost-covered eyelashes, she could barely make out these lights. But they did not fade, only grew with every step, becoming brighter and larger.
With the last of her strength, the unfortunate girl turned off the road and followed a path toward the yellow sparks. Life had almost left the poor girl, her arms and legs would not obey, her whole body became like an icy stone.
Somehow, she managed to unstick her frozen eyelashes, and the girl gasped — the enticing lights turned out to be lanterns on a tree. In front of her in a wealthy yard stood a tall, fluffy fir tree. Its green branches were adorned with glittering balls, tiny lanterns with candles inside, long golden beads, candies, and incredibly beautiful toys.
Arishka swayed, unable to stand on her unsteady legs, and fell right into the soft needles. A shining light lit up above her through the long green needles.
The girl suddenly smiled and whispered through frosted white lips:
«I died! And I got into heaven.»
She gasped hoarsely:
«Mother!»
In the warm light, a beautiful face with a smooth hairstyle flickered above her. It smelled, as it should in heaven, of sweet ambrosia. Gentle female hands tenderly embraced Arina, picking up the frozen, little girl lying under the tree.
«Mom!» — Arishka pressed her cheek against something soft, warm, and plunged into a black, silent abyss.
When she woke up, the gentle hands were still stroking her and warming her. It was warm and peaceful to lie under a soft downy blanket on a pillow, as if made of a cloud.
Arishka reached out to the woman sitting next to her on the bed:
«Mother, did I die and get into heaven? Will I always be with you now? Is uncle here too? After all, robbers killed him on the road. Who will bury him now, mother? And I froze to death on the road?»
The woman in a black silk dress shook her head, her face was sad:
«Don’t talk like that, little one. You’re alive, you’re at my house.»
The happy eyes of Arisha dimmed with disappointment, filled with tears, she lowered her head and burst into tears:
«Was it all a dream? The guiding star, and the decorated tree? Was there nothing?! I’m an orphan… A lonely wretch… The star-half moon didn’t lead me anywhere. What will happen now, will you send me to an orphanage?»
The woman suddenly embraced her hotly and tightly:
«Listen, listen. I don’t know your name, but I know that you managed to get through the darkness and the cold to my house. And that’s a real miracle! I prayed to God for this, asked long ago to send me divine mercy.»
Tears choked Irina, and she fell silent, only clutching the thin foundling to herself, not knowing how to explain to the child all that had happened. For before Arishka’s appearance at her estate, the wealthy landowner Irina Gulyaeva considered herself cursed.
Anyone in her place would have thought so.
Her parents left the young woman a good inheritance, married her for love. But her life turned into a series of nightmares, first her beloved husband died from a painful illness, and then Irina buried her five-year-old daughter, the only joy in her heavy life.
From grief, Irina turned into a black shadow. The landlady wandered around the empty house all day and prayed to higher powers for mercy. To send her a meaning of life, to give her at least a drop of happiness in a series of terrible losses.
On Christmas night, from sorrow, the young woman took out bright decorations, toys from trunks, and began to decorate a huge century-old fir tree that grew in the courtyard of the estate.
She hung beads, lit candles, and smiled. Let the lanterns shine as brightly as possible so that her little daughter could see this beauty in the sky. Irina raised her head and hopefully peered into the black dome.
The North Star shone brightly in the sky, and from its light, it became warmer at the heart of the inconsolable mother. It seemed to Irina that her daughter saw the decorated tree and rejoiced, sending her mother a message from the other world.
The woman hurried to the house, where she began to gather a bundle of toys and sweets to put them under the tree according to tradition. But when she stepped onto the porch, bright, shiny bundles fell from her weakened hands — along the path to the warm lights of the lanterns staggered a thin figure.
Irina gasped:
«My daughter!» — and ran as fast as she could to the tree.
She picked up the unconscious girl and carried her into the house.
The next evening after a doctor and a police chief called overnight had left the estate, Irina already knew the girl’s story. That she became an orphan last night after her father was chopped down on the road by robbers. And the little girl somehow miraculously made it alone in the bitter cold to the decorated fir tree in the courtyard of the landowner’s estate.
When Arishka woke up, the young woman cried from happiness. She suddenly understood that the incredible rescue of the orphan was the mercy she had prayed for.
Her prayers were heard, and on Christmas, a real miracle happened — the guiding star led the orphan, who had lost her parents, straight to her house.
At the sight of the child’s tears, Irina hugged the little girl and whispered:
«You won’t go to an orphanage and won’t become an orphan. I’ll file the papers and adopt you. I’ve waited for you so long, you are my miracle!»
Arinka was stunned for a moment, then threw herself around her neck:
«Mommy! You finally came back to me! The star granted my wish!» — drowning in tender embraces, she cried from the overwhelming happiness.
In the dark sky, the bright North Star lit up. It peered through the window of the quiet evening estate, where a young woman and a little girl froze in an embrace. The gentle light of the celestial beauty penetrated through the glass, enveloping Irina and her adopted daughter, forever linking their destinies into one whole.
