The Golden Bird - 3. Nikio and the Salamander - Journey's End

As Nikio berated himself for his uselessness, for his inability to help even one person, he heard a rustling in the wet leaves and a scrabbling on the mossy rocks, and the salamander appeared.

"What net have you fallen into this time?" The salamander's voice betrayed some impatience.

"I haven't fallen into any net. I've just realized that this has all been pointless. I don't know what I'm chasing after. I should just go home. I don't think I could drag the Golden Bird away. The Bird at least is still trying to watch over the Wounded Man. I just want to run. I'm of no use to him or anyone else."

"You and the Bird have so much in common, at least in the matter of intelligence," the salamander said. "There is no one in the world who can help the Wounded Man. And there are many people who can be helped, but you might not be the right person to do it."

"But I promised, in a way. I said, 'Just until he is healed.'"

The salamander laughed, or snorted, or choked--such things are difficult to distinguish coming from an amphibian--and said, "A promise is a contract. And a contract is binding only if both parties receive something of value."

"But even if I leave, how am I going to get the Golden Bird to give up watching him? It clutches his wrist tightly every moment."

"A hood will not be enough this time. This may seem hard, but you must drive the Golden Bird away from him--attack it, even hurt it."

It was late at night when Nikio returned to the cottage. The Golden Bird was asleep on the red-haired man's arm. Nikio pushed it hard, yelling, "Get out! Fly away!" The Golden Bird screeched at him and climbed back on the man's arm. The man by now was awake and crying, "What are you doing? Help! You have fallen in with my enemies!" The next moments were frantic chaos as Nikio slashed at the bird first with a stick of firewood, then with a knife. The Golden Bird, enraged, began to glow. The red-haired man, showing a strength he never had shown before, fought Nikio to keep him from hurting the bird. Finally a thrust of the knife cut the Golden Bird's wing. The bird fluttered unsteadily out the window and flew to a low branch. As soon as it saw Nikio pursuing it, it hissed in fury and fear, shining more brightly each moment. It flew unsteadily away with Nikio following.

When he thought the Golden Bird was safely distant, Nikio returned to the river. The salamander was waiting for him. "Hold my tail, one last time," the creature said. "And please, no more delays." Once again, they swam upriver, northward.

This time, when they crawled ashore, the Golden Bird was flitting from tree to tree before them, shining as brightly as it ever had. Beyond the trees, beside a spring from which the river issued, stood an elegant house. It was not forbidding like the hunter's black stone castle. It was not dazzling like the white-haired man's palace. It was not heartbreaking like the poor cottage of the Wounded Man. It felt, to Nikio, like home.

There Nikio and the salamander lived. On the land around them industrious people lived, who treated the salamander with a surprising deference and provided for all their needs. The Golden Bird took up residence in the trees by the elegant house. Sometimes they would not see it for a few days; but when it stayed close, it illuminated the night like the sun.

One day Nikio sat by the spring and thought of the many miles the river flowed from it, and then thought of his own country so far away. He said to the salamander, "I want my family to see that I am well and happy. I want to go visit them."

But the salamander answered, "Why not invite them here?"

So Nikio sent a letter with one of the obliging people who lived near the elegant house. In time Nikio's brother and sister came to visit.

"We were so surprised to hear from you," Nikio's brother said. "Everyone thought you were dead. It's been so many years."

"It has?" Nikio asked.

"Yes, Nikio, it has, not that you've gotten any better at keeping track of time," his sister said. "Our father died last year. Your brother is King now."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. And you--did you have your pick of the great lords of the country?"

"Yes, I did. I'm very happy. And you, Nikio? Do you live all alone here?"

"Well, no."

"So who else lives in this house?" his brother insisted.

"A salamander. It's hard to explain. He helped me a lot. Saved my life, really."

"Oh, Nikio," his sister said, "how--unorthodox, and typical of you. You know, of everyone, it was Mother who worried most about you. She has shrunk, it seems, since Father died. But her face lit up so when your letter arrived. She wants to see you. She can't come herself. She asks you to visit."

After Nikio's brother and sister had departed, he said to the salamander, "I am going to visit my mother. If you do not wish to join me, be well until I return."

"I think I cannot join you. My traveling days are over. You wore me out," the salamander said. "And I will try to stay well until you return, but I can't guarantee anything."

So Nikio traveled the long journey downriver to visit his homeland. There he found his mother, looking so much older than he remembered her. Mixed joy and reproach were in her eyes as she said, "Nikio, I never thought you really would leave here."

"Oh yes, Mother, as surely as the pearl sailed downriver."

"I thought that you would be the one who wouldn't grow up."

"But I did, Mother. It's just that my way of growing up has turned out to be different than the others."

Nikio stayed longer than he had intended. Finally he made the long journey back upriver. There he found the salamander very sick, near death.

"I missed you," the salamander said.

"I'm so sorry. Why didn't you say this would happen if I went away?"

"I have no wish to play the Wounded Man; nor to hold you by force, nor to entice you with treasures. Nikio, it was just as hard for me each time you were waylaid by one of those distractions."

"You are my dearest friend. You saved me over and over."

"I was pretty hungry myself when you first showed up with that cheese sandwich."

"I can't make myself cause you pain."

"Then free me from this sickness now. Take a sword and cut off my head and feet."

"That would be poor repayment for all you have done."

"Hey--I'm a salamander. They'll probably grow back. And I sure don't want to stay like this."

So Nikio, taking a sword, cut off the salamander's head and feet. Then he picked up the one fishlike fin and held it tightly. One of the spines dug into his hand, and three drops of Nikio's blood fell on the salamander's body. The dead flesh was transformed into a handsome man, alive, well and laughing.

"Who are you?" Nikio asked.

"I am the salamander," the man said. "You have released me from that enchantment. I am the King of this country, and these people who treat us so well--I know you wondered about that--are my subjects. And this house is the least of my residences. Will you share them with me?"

"Gladly," Nikio replied. "But you said your sister and brother were salamanders. What was that story about keeping your gills, if you were really an enchanted King?"

"Oh, that," the King said. "Can't you tell a metaphor when you hear one?"