Birth Of An Oil Field

In a desert kingdom, in a city located at the borderline between the sea and the desert - let us call it OIL CITY because of its big oil refining terminals and a large and busy oil port - ...there lives and works an ancient dynasty of oil-well drillers, the BIGARTS, in the oilfields of Oil King EMERSON: great grandfather MICHAEL, grandfather ODID, father KIRYL. And a little boy, born to Kiryl and his Greek wife DIDO, named NIKYAS, who is the protagonist of the novel. While all the Bigarts are fanatically devoted to oil, Nikyas, the son of the Chief Engineer is indifferent to oil. His father sends Nikyas to a madrasa, a traditional school of Islamic learning, so that the boy will get to know the Muslim world. At the madrasa, Nikyas is a weak unsociable boy whom everyone ignores. The teacher discovers the boy's hidden talents from the very beginning In early boyhood Nikyas lost his way in the desert and got caught in a sandstorm. Having lost his camel, he took refuge in a tuft of mat grass, where he and a couple of trembling hares waited until the storm was over. Then he set off again The sun beat fiercely upon his head, the sandy dunes stretched endlessly, and the boy set out on a hopeless journey through the desert. Young Bigart might have perished but for a solitary desert lark (this is a true fact), who led him to the mountains, where water was found. There he met a snake catcher (and a snake priest) called MARAB, who led a secluded life in his stone cottage. The man revived young Bigart, treating his feet in his stone cottage and introducing Nikyas to his weird "congregation" - hundreds of different species of desert snakes. (Marab had picked them up from the oil fields and from the desert roads, thus saving thousands of them from a certain death.) One evening, when the sun was setting and a wind was rising, Marab invited the boy into the desert and showed him something that he had never seen before - a WIND ORGAN. The "instrument" consisted of empty bottles, in various configurations, half-buried in the sand at different angles When at last the wind started blowing, Marab raised his finger to his lips and said: "L i s t e n!" Miraculous sounds were produced one after another: the WIND ORGAN played... a mystical melody to the tune of which the slender bodies of Marab's snakes moved. At the age of fifteen, Nikyas Bigart finishes primary school and continues at an English college. He is still a puny and humble young man who has to endure the practical jokes and beatings of the boys and the teasing of the girls. Nikyas has three faithful friends: the tortoise HELONE, his history teacher SARAH SCHLIEMANN, and EAMON, a handsome athletic figure and a remarkable person. At the end of the semester, the schools of Oil City organise a history quiz, which is won by the team led by Sarah Schliemann. It is Nikyas who gives the best answer and thus scores the winning point. The team is awarded a tour of ATHENS Nikyas does not want to go, but his father, Kiryl, insists on his flying to GREECE. The quiz team lives in a small hotel from where they are taken on various tours. One day the guide organizes a surprise trip into a small village in the mountains. Here the guide reveals their destination: the CENTAUR'S CAVE, high up in the mountains. It turns out the path is so difficult that only the bravest can manage it. The history teacher, who realises that this is Nikyas's chance, pushes him forward and says proudly: "He is the bravest!" Bigart turns pale, but after a scornful burst of laughter from the quiz team he pulls himself together and, to everybody's surprise, says clearly and decisively: "Yes!" They set off. The stocky PATHFINDER with his long staff striding ahead, and Nikyas, stumbling and falling after him. He walked well behind and then his classmate ,the giant Golem, came out of hiding and pushed him hard (The giant felt that he was losing control over the puny Nikyas) Nikyas, who could hardly recover from the blow, followed the Pathfinder, crawling on all fours. They reached the path which led to the cave, but all that was left after the landslide was a narrow ledge of the cliff, so that the only way for him to walk was on his heels, pressing his back and head against the cliff. "ON we go!" the Pathfinder ordered strictly. A yawning chasm was seen under the ledge and even the slightest leaning forward would send the young man into the ravine below. He tore his clothes and the back of his head bled against the sharp cliffs. Moreover, the unprotected face of the young man was attacked by hornets Cut and with swollen eyes he stumbled onwards - WHERE TO? TO THE CAVE? It was damp and cool, and a waterfall came splashing down from a high cliff. Without seeing anything ahead or around, the tormented Nikyas stumbled on towards the sound of the waterfall. He stretched out his bleeding hands and head under the falling water when the Pathfinder cried out warningly: "B l o o d !" "Water, " answered the tormented young man and stepped trustingly under the fall. "I warned you," said the Pathfinder. "You have chosen YOUR WAY!" Nikyas Bigart was standing under the water gushing forth from the crack in the cliff - and then something quite unexpected happened: his wounds closed, the swelling was reduced, and Nikyas slowly opened his eyes to a red spout streaming from a crack high up. "Can't you see, it's blood" the Pathfinder said. "THE CENTAUR DID NOT OBEY THE GODS AND THEY CONDEMNED HIM TO AN ETERNAL WOUND." Nikyas Bigart, startled, looked at his body and feet and did not understand what was going on In the evening the others wait for the young man and the Pathfinder. At long last they notice the latter and an unknown young man, a giant, with a thick mane of black hair. The young man turns out to be the transformed Nikyas. In the evening the village is celebrating a feast in honour of DEMETER, the goddess of fertility. Sarah Schliemann is elected to play Demeter, and the beautiful Laura is chosen as her daughter Persephone. At midnight, in the middle of the feast, Nikyas, who has changed beyond recognition, feels a sudden and strange change in his consciousness The bonfires were dying when suddenly a powerful dark CREATURE dashed through the darkness into the crowd, pulled Demeter and Persephone from the throne - and that was all that was seen of the goddesses. In the early morning the guide phoned the tourist police: "A teacher, named Sarah Schliemann, and a student, called Laura, from my group were kidnapped last night Sorry, they are coming!" Sarah, and Laura, the recent rivals, were walking with their arms around each other's necks over the Alpine meadow. Their clothes were torn, and they were bruised and broken, but obviously happy!

Movie Genres: Biography, Foreign, Nature, Society

Movie Released: 16 Jul, 2007

Video Length: 26 min

Total Views: 1,718 Times

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