Elman returned to the village with his masterpiece. People traveled from miles away to see it. They saw a woman, yes, but they also saw hope, purity, and the magic that adults usually forget.
He never saw her again in the flesh, but whenever he closed his eyes to start a new work, he would whisper to the empty room, "Sən mənim nağıllarımın ağ çiçəyi oldun" — You became the white flower of my fairy tales. And in that memory, his art stayed forever young.
"You aren't real, are you?" he asked one night, his brush trembling. "You are a page from the books my grandmother used to read."