Son, Do Not Sleep with the Heavenly Woman!

A certain father had a son — already a grown man, but one who had not yet started his own family. The father warned his son — one night, a heavenly woman will come to you and ask permission to sleep beside you. She will be endlessly beautiful and seductive, and you will not be able to refuse her. However — if you agree to her offer, by morning you will be dead. The father loved his son dearly. And to protect him from the temptation of the heavenly woman, he even moved to another village — so she could not find the son. But it was in vain. One night, when the parents were away, the heavenly woman appeared before the son and asked permission to sleep beside him. Although the son well remembered his father’s warning, the woman’s beauty was overwhelming, and he allowed her to stay. By morning, the son was dead. The heavenly woman was horrified, for she had not wished to harm the young man. She rushed to an old shaman who lived nearby and asked for help. The shaman did not refuse. He came to the young man’s house, saw what had happened, and within moments had built a large bonfire right in the yard. When the fire was burning well, he threw a lizard into the hottest part of the flames. The shaman explained to the surrounding villagers that the young man’s life could be restored only if there were someone who loved the young man strongly enough to walk into the fire and retrieve the lizard. The heavenly woman tried to do it, but she could not. Likewise, the mother and father tried to retrieve the lizard from the fire, but they were unable to do it either. The fire was too hot. Then from among the onlookers stepped forward a simple girl who loved the young man, though she had never told anyone. She walked into the fire and brought out the lizard. The young man awoke from the sleep of death. All the villagers rejoiced — the heavenly woman rejoiced, the parents rejoiced, and the two young people, who had finally found each other, rejoiced as well. However, the shaman said that it was not yet over. He built another bonfire, threw the lizard into the flames, and told the young man that he now had to make a decision. If he retrieved the lizard from the fire, the girl who had saved him would live, but his mother would die. If he left the lizard in the fire, the girl would die, but his mother would live. The young man had to choose.