One day, in a little village close to where I used to live,
but far from me today, a little girl was born.
She was called vaysha.
A beautiful little girl, said the villagers.
Her mother looked at her with adoration.
How could this mother, leaning over the cradle,
imagine that her little girl's eyes would see things this way?
Little vaysha had been born
with a left eye that only saw the past
and a right eye that only saw the future.
When little vaysha grew up and began to talk,
she explained that she saw the sky like this.
And even though her eyes were open,
like those of any sighted person,
it was as though vaysha was blind.
"Vaysha the blind girl."
This was how everyone came to call her.
Everyone was convinced that vaysha's eyes
were the result of black magic.
A gaggle of old medicine women
paraded into the house to identify the spell
and attempt to heal the little girl of this affliction.
Drink the extract of blue thistle
for 40 days before the sun rises.
Place the gallbladder of a buzzard on the left eye,
the heart of a rooster on the right eye,
an oscillated peacock feather
and the tongue of a horned viper on both.
The old woman whispered that nothing would work
unless a way was found to reunite her eyes
and bring her back to this world.
All attempts to restore her normal vision failed.
In the courtyard, she advanced with outstretched arms,
and bumped into the cherry tree.
She toppled pots in the shed.
Ripe cherries or the pots to gather them -
these did not exist for her.
In her eyes, the present did not exist.
Vaysha grew up.
She became a beautiful young woman.
The fact that she had one green eye and one brown eye
only added to her beauty.
One day, a young man came to ask for her hand.
When she laid her eyes on him, this is what she saw.
My goodness, what has this little brat come to aske me?
...his hair is all white.
Poor dear. My goodness, he smells like dirt.
His shirt is not tucked in his pants,
his knees are all scraped.
His time has come and he's asking me to marry him.
I could be his mother. It must be a joke.
- The same story was repeated with each suitor.
Vaysha was unable to find any man
who could unite her sight.
She rarely left the house.
In her eyes, the present did not exist.
Even at night,
while vaysha slept, she could not truly rest.
She had nightmares.
Like a serpent's tongue, her dreams would split in two.
On one side, she saw herself as a little girl;
and on the other, she saw herself already dead.
Sometimes the difference between the two eyes was slight,
only a few hours apart.
For the left eye, the sun had just risen.
The right eye was already seeing the moon shine.
But other times,
her left eye only showed her an abyss and a great void,
like that which preceded creation,
while her right eye could only perceive ruins and disaster,
after what could have been an apocalypse.
It was difficult for vaysha to live with her disability.
This is why one day, out of desperation,
she had the idea of tearing out an eye with her own hands.
But she didn't know which one.
If she chose to remove her left eye,
that would mean that she would live forever in the future.
And the future...
And the future, it scared her.
It was dark and depressing.
However, if she removed her right eye,
she could live in the past,
which is always more certain and reassuring.
But how to live with parents who are young children?
Vaysha could not be happy,
neither in the past nor in the future.
This story is a hopeless story,
because we cannot find anything in this world
capable of reuniting these two views.
And now, dear audience,
close your right eye.
How sad if, with your left eye,
you could no longer see any film or any story,
only the blank page preceding the story.
Woe to you.
And now close your left eye.
If you still do not see the film,
because it is already erased
and the images have become dust and white ash...
Woe to me.
Do we look at the world with the eyes of vaysha the blind?