The story of a forgotten city and a man who turned into a turtle | 5 minutes

The Story of a Forgotten City and a Man Who Turned into a Turtle | 5 Minutes

The life of the caravanserai owner Benishon changes unexpectedly: this man, who only yesterday walked among people, gradually begins to turn into a turtle. This issue of "5 Minutes" discusses one of the most unusual and philosophical works of Uzbek literature - the novel "The Libra Turtle" by Temur Pulatov.

The hero Taraziy at the center of the novel is a poet and scientist from Bukhara. He does not live in one place, but travels from city to city, writes treatises, observes natural phenomena, and finds connections that others have not seen.

His next destination is a mysterious city that is being covered in sand. When Taraziy arrives at the caravanserai, a riot has already begun there. The caravanserai owner Benishon has disappeared, and a large hole has appeared in the wall of his room.

The merchants put forward various assumptions. Some say he is evading debt, others think a predator has broken through the wall. The judge begins an investigation. Benishon's servant tells his master that he has been leaving his house less and less recently, that he has been walking with his legs crossed, and that there have been strange changes in his movements.

After leaving the city, Tarazi encounters a huge tortoise in the desert. The tortoise follows him. It later turns out that this is not an ordinary animal, but Benishon himself, who has disappeared from the caravanserai.

Benishon, in the form of a tortoise, tells Tarazi about his experiences. At first, the skin on his back became stiff and insensitive. His arms and legs swelled, and his body changed shape. Unable to walk, he was forced to crawl on all fours. When the transformation was complete, he pierced the wall with his bowl and got out.

But Benishon's transformation into a turtle was no accident.

There was an ancient saying in his family that his descendants originated from turtles. Benishon took these sayings as mere myth. When he himself became a turtle, he realized that the mark passed down through the generations had reawakened in his body.

For Tarozy, Benishon was a unique experiment provided by nature. The scientist was engaged in a new direction in the study of turtles, looking for a way to return the animal to human form. He began to perform procedures on Benishon.

The experiment was successful: the turtle's legs turned into human legs, its claws into arms, its tail fell off, and its skull disappeared. Benishon again stood on two legs, wore clothes, and spoke. However, each procedure aged him by ten years. Twenty-seven-year-old Benishon quickly turned into a middle-aged man.

Tarozy restored his body to human form, but could not erase the hereditary marks. Benishon's habits, fears, and character remain the same.

In society, we judge a person by his appearance. If he is dressed in the right way, is an official, speaks fluently, then everything is fine. But a person's status is not determined by his face, arms, and two legs. Even though Benishon's body is healed, his avoidance of people, his suspicions, and his self-interested life do not disappear. Even though the molds fall off his shoulders, there is no change inside.

Libra recognizes this truth too late.

Benishon turns into a turtle again. This time, people perceive him not as a scientific miracle, but as a source of income. Dengizkhan and Holdfinger start making money by putting the talking turtle on a show. Benishon, who was the owner of a caravanserai only yesterday, now becomes part of a show that sells tickets.

Society itself is in no hurry to understand such a strange thing, and it very quickly learns how to profit from it.

Leaving the city, Taraziy encounters several turtles near Bukhara and recognizes Benishon among them. He calculates his age: twenty-seven years as a human, thirty years lost in experiments, and a few more years spent among turtles. For a human, this is almost a lifetime, but for a turtle, it is still half the journey.

So, there is no problem. Turtles live long. However, whether this long life is a reward or a punishment for Benishon, who has become a turtle, is no longer clear even to Taraziy's calculations.

Living in a shell is convenient. There is no rent. But in order to remain human, we can only maintain our identity if we can sometimes challenge the negative vices passed down from our ancestors and the patterns prepared by society.