The Golden Balalaika

Long ago, in Russia, there lived a young ambitious man called Peter who loved a beautiful young woman named Anna.
They had grown up together and so were not just lovers but the best of friends but Peter had dreams of travelling the world; of having great adventures and becoming rich and famous and Anna did not want to leave their village because she only wanted a simple life.
All the same they became engaged and arranged to be married.
On the day of their wedding however, Peter was passing the harbour when he heard about an expedition to search for a magical ice island and the treasure of a lost princess.
Entranced by the idea of adventure and of finding a magical treasure, Peter signed up to join the expedition, leaving a note with his best man of where he was going and that he would bring back treasure for Anna and marry her as a rich man rather than a pauper.
But his best man, who's name was Victor, was also in love with Anna and, going to Anna, he told her Peter had simply run off and abandoned her, burning the note that Peter had left.
And Anna was so heartbroken that Victor managed to manipulate her into marrying him.
Then, as if that was not bad enough, Peter, after his ship had travelled for months, was shipwrecked alone upon the ice island he had been searching for with no hope of escaping.
But Peter was not the kind of person to give up hope and so he searched his ice island until, one day, in the middle of a snowstorm he found the ruined palace and the  treasure of the lost princess and among the treasure was a golden balalaika that magically restored youth and a mirror that allowed its owner to see anything.
So looking in the mirror, he asked, "Show me my fiance, Anna".
Unfortunately, what he saw was Anna crying and saying to herself,
"Oh Peter, why did you leave me? All I ever wanted; all I have ever loved was you".
And then he saw the deceitful Victor say to her, jealously,
"Why do you still love that rogue, Peter? He abandoned you while I've been faithful to you. You should love me".
And seeing these visions in the mirror made Peter weep.
"Oh Anna", he said, "I never abandoned you. I always meant to return to you".
And he cursed himself for being so stupid as to leave behind the most important thing in the world to him, his beloved Anna.
But there was no way of escaping that ice island so he couldn't go back to her and no way of sending word to her so he could never tell her the truth.
All the same, he put his mind into work, cleaning up and repairing the palace of the lost  princess and storing all the treasure and fine clothes that he found there in boxes that he thought he might one day give to Anna or her daughters; he even replanted the gardens of the lost palace with some seed he had found frozen in ice which, remarkably grew into beautiful blooming flowers and said to himself, "If Anna were only my Queen and I her King this would be our palace".
But then one day, when Peter had finished restoring the ruined palace, through his hard work, to its former beauty, the ghost of the lost princess appeared and thanked him for what he had done and, as a reward, said that he could have one wish and keep one piece of treasure.
And so Peter wished to be home again in his little village and to keep the Golden Balalaika.
And just as he was asking for these things, suddenly and miraculously, Peter realised that he was back home again in his village and so he rushed as fast as his feet could carry him to see Anna.
Now, remember, that Anna, like Peter, was at this time very old. Her husband Viktor had died only a year earlier leaving her no children.
Peter found her in Victors house and the moment they saw each other they threw their arms around each other.
"Oh Peter", she said to him, crying, "Why did you abandon me. I only ever loved you".
"I never abandoned you", said Peter, "I wrote you a note explaining that I was coming back but Victor never gave it to you and then I was shipwrecked on an island and couldn't escape it for years and years but I never stopped loving you in all that time".
But then, reaching into his bag, Peter took out the golden balalaika he had brought back for Anna.
"I brought you this", he said, "Because I remember, when we were children, that you used to play the Balalaika".
Seeing the golden instrument covered in elaborate painted flowers, Anna thought it was beautiful but then, as Peter was handing it to her something remarkable happened.
Suddenly, the balalika started to play by itself and, as it played and its music soared, both Peter and Anna started to become young again.
Realizing what had happened, Peter held Anna tightly.
"Oh Anna", he said, "We have a second chance and this time I'll never leave you".
And not long afterwards Anna and Peter were married and lived, in their little village, happily ever after.