know that he exists
and is active.
That would have been
an obvious error.
And he would not permit that.
Lena recognized Natasha.
She tried to rouse her.
Remeber, twenty years ago
we became separated.
I though you had died,
but you are alive.
Twenty years ago
we were together,
we lived in our country,
I was a famous actress, says Lena,
and you were just starting out.
But the times became troubed,
our movie factory closed down.
Everyone escaped to the south,
but we could not go immediately,
because we possessed treasures.
We collected rugs, she says.
The country was falling into disorder
and we tried to save the rugs,
sell some, abandon others,
wall rugs for residencies,
palaces, mosques,
carpet bags and chest covers,
place mats and seive mats.
bergans with garlands and flowers,
priceless persians...
We tried to save them.
One day the idea was born,
I don't know who had it first,
to sell all the rugs and buy
a single, most important rug.
A tailor, who is also a sorcerer,
had told us about it.
We had used his services
many times.
The lot fell to Katya,
our youngest sister.
When she came back she told us
what we had all suspected
long before:
This rug was woven by
a sufi from Gerdes,
hence the name Gordian Knot,
and it possessed magical powers.
The ornament and numerous knots
greatly enhanced the spell.
The legend says that whoever
owns the rug is invincible.
The powers of evil are
powerless before him.
His country enjoys prosperty
for 100 years.
The rug may be bought
from a Bukharian emir.
He is passing through our city
just now and he needs money.
His country is in turmoil,
and he must buy weapons.
You and I agreed to make
one last film in our country,
to earn enough money
and buy this rug.
We were making our
most profitable picture.
WE ARE MAKING OUR
MOST PROFITABLE PICTURE
We sold off some of our rugs.
We also got money from people
who knew of the mystery of the rug.
The legend was made-up...
We were ready to buy,
and all of our friends accompanied
us to the negotiations.
Some of them were dukes,
I think, I forgot the name.
When we settled on the price,
the son of the Emir
confirmed the legend of the rug.
Whoever believed in it
had all his wishes granted.
But he made it up.
We sensed that everything
in this life is intertwined.
That everything is reflected
in the pattern of the rug,
trodden by a divine foot.
And that the idea of the legend
is woven into the pattern,
and that whoever
invented the legend
had woven his invention
into the pattern.
We bought the rug.
In the women's quarters,
the Emir's senior wife
told us more about the legend.
She said that the court had lived
in peace for 100 years
all thanks to the legend.
But that the legend demands
that innocent blood
be spilled on the rug
once every 100 years.
Only then does it have power.
It had been almost 100 years
since the rug was dowsed in blood.
The spell had lost its power.
We had bought a worthless rug.
We had to do something.
Finish the film, escape...
The country was in the throes
of civil war...
The sense that all things are intertwined,
are all part of the pattern
trodden by a divine foot,
never left us.
Once the director Prokonin-Gorsky -
you remember him -
drove us out to a country road,
and tried to convince us
to have faith in the legend.
He believed in the idea of the rug
more than anyone else.
He cried, demanded, begged us -
to visit to the general -
Grishin-Almazov -
he was an admirer of ours,
loved the cinema,
adored us - our photos
were sold in stores! -
I was at the hight of fame,
and you were just starting out,
but people recognized you
on the street...
So the director begged us
to visit the general,
and ask him for a pass
to the front.
The ideas was simple
and horrific:
take the rug to the battlefield
full of duped, innocent people,
let someone fall upon it,
dowse it with blood
and ressurect the legend.