One day the Shah and his vizier were returning from a hunt and saw a hunched old woman walking ahead. The Shah bridled his horse, caught up with her and asked:
- Hey, old woman, who are you and what are you doing here?
- I'm a woman, don't you see? - answered the old woman. “And what I do is spoil the lives of some and make others happy.”
The Shah was surprised:
- What power do you have that you can make someone happy or unhappy?
“Oh Shah,” the old woman laughed, “don’t you know what a woman is capable of?” If a woman does not destroy the house, it will stand for a thousand years.
The Shah did not like the old woman’s words. And the vizier agreed with her.
The old woman had long been left behind, but they were still arguing, and even in the palace they continued to bicker. The padishah had three daughters. He called them to resolve the dispute.
“Daughters,” he asked, “who builds the house—a woman or a man?”
The eldest daughter replied:
- Of course, husband.
Shah liked her answer.
“Thank you, daughter, you’re right,” he said and turned to the middle daughter: “What do you say?” She replied:
- Father, what is a woman like so that she can build a house? Of course, a man builds a house.
The Shah turned to his youngest daughter:
- What do you think, daughter? But his youngest daughter disappointed him:
— Father, a woman builds a house.
The Shah was an unrestrained man. He jumped up from his throne in anger.
- If so, I will marry you to a homeless poor man. Let's see how you build a house!
But I must say, on the outskirts of this city, in a miserable shack, lived the old woman Fata-gara. And she had a grandson, Ahmed, so lazy that he was ready not to drink, not to eat, just not to get up from his place. The Shah called this Faty-Gary to him and said: “Listen, old woman, I’m giving my youngest daughter for your grandson.” And since you are a poor man and you have nothing, there is no need for a wedding, without any music, take it with you when you go home.
The old woman fell at his feet in horror:
- Oh Shah, what kind of match is my grandson with your daughter? He doesn't even have decent clothes. He walks around in such rags that the beggars are scared. Yes, he had never eaten enough bread in his life. How can he support the Shah's daughter? No, great Shah, don't do this.
“It’s none of your business,” the Shah got angry. “It’s said, I’m giving my daughter for your grandson, and it’s over.”
The old woman had nothing left to do, and she, taking the Shah’s daughter with her, went home. There she told her grandson everything. Although Ahmed was amazed by the Shah’s unexpected decision, he did not get out of bed.
And the Shah's daughter was very smart and cunning. Neither her father’s anger nor her unexpected marriage frightened her at all. She decided that she could cope with her husband’s laziness.
First of all, she noticed that he was because of Len. eats in bed. Therefore, on the very first day, she set the table and called Ahmed to eat. He begged her for a long time to bring dinner to bed. But she didn't agree. Then Akhmed turned to the wall and fell asleep. “The next day the same thing happened again.” Akhtmed felt that he was hungry, the young man realized that no one would serve him food in bed, even if he were dying, and somehow, groaning and groaning, he crawled to the set table. After eating, he immediately fell asleep. And the wife set the table further from the bed every day. A few days later, Ahmed was already getting up as soon as she brought in food. Then she began to serve dinner in the courtyard on the green grass. Akhmed began to come here too, but after eating, he invariably went to bed.
One day, the Shah's daughter decided to lure him out into the street. She found out that her husband loves nuts. Having bought two pounds of nuts at the market, she scattered them from the gate to the house and said:
- Akhmed, stop lying sideways. There are nuts lying around in the yard, get up, pick them up and eat them.
Although Ahmed was too lazy to get up, he wanted even more nuts. He got out of bed, somehow collected the nuts at the gate and went back to bed. The next day she came up with a new trick, then another, and so gradually taught the lazy man to go outside. Then she began to send him to the market.
But Ahmed objected:
- But I don’t know how to do anything, where can I find a job?
“Just go out into the street,” said the wife, “shout out who needs a worker, and you’ll see who needs it.” But whoever approaches you, don’t bargain or argue, go with him. He will give you a job.
Somehow she led Ahmed out into the street. He stood in the middle of the road, repeating barely audibly:
-Who needs an employee?
Suddenly a man came up to him and said:
“Son, I have a garden, go dig up the ground, for this I have given you one tumen.”
Ahmed wanted to refuse, but remembered his wife’s words and went. He dug in the garden until evening, and in the evening he received a bribe and headed home.
On the way, he saw a man selling a cat. He gave his tumen for a cat. At home, the Shah's daughter asked:
- Ahmed, what did you do, how much did you earn?
“I earned one tumen,” he answered, “but I gave it for this cat.”
His wife did not scold him, she just said:
- Since you have tried to work, go on a long journey. You need to take a walk, see new places. Ahmed felt lazy again and tried to object.
- How can I travel, because I have neither a horse, nor money, and I don’t know the road.
But the Shah's daughter was persistent:
- Tomorrow you will go to the market, stand on the side of the road and wait. A caravan of camels will pass by you. If you ask the owner to take you and say that in return you will help him, he will agree. So you will go with them.
Ahmed knew that his wife would get her way anyway, that what she said would happen, and so he agreed. Morning has come. He went to the road and stood on the side of the road. Indeed, soon a line of camels appeared. Ahmed approached the owner of the caravan and asked:
“Won’t you take me with you, good man?” For this I will help you on the road.
“Of course, I’ll take it, I’m always looking for such a person throughout the day.” I searched in heaven, but I found him on earth. So Ahmed went on a journey. Their path lay through the desert, and in the very middle of it they ran out of water. For how long or how long they walked, exhausted from thirst, they finally reached the well.
The owner of the caravan called Ahmed and said to him:
- Son, we will lower you into the well, get some water.
Ahmed was already accustomed to agreeing with everything, and agreed to this too. They tied him with a rope and lowered him into the well. Ahmed stood with his feet on the bottom, looked around and saw: there were no walls or light around. Only a piece of the sun shines from above. He walked for a long time until he came across a river. He filled two skins of water and returned back. He began to call for him to be taken upstairs. But instead of an answer, a terrible roar was heard and a diva appeared. Akhmed was frightened and wanted to run away, but there was nowhere to go. Div blocked the passages in all directions with his arms, and it was impossible to climb up. And he roared:
- O son of man, I see that you want to run away from me. But know that you won’t run away from me anywhere. Not a single living creature has climbed here. But you're lucky. Today I'm in a good mood. Now I will ask you a question. If you tell the truth, you will be saved, but if you don’t, I will tear you to pieces.
And, taking Ahmed with him, the div went to his palace. This palace was so beautiful that Ahmed’s eyes widened. Everything was buried in gold and precious stones. Div began to lead Ahmed from room to room. So they went through thirty-nine rooms. And in the fortieth room, stopping in front of a golden tray with a frog, the diva asked:
- O son of man, tell me now, what is the most beautiful thing in the world?
Ahmed replied:
“The most beautiful thing in the world is what your soul loves.”
The diva really liked these words, because he was in love with this very frog. And he changed his mind about killing Ahmed. And in turn, he gave him a pomegranate and a large nut and set him free. Ahmed reached the well, but no matter how much he called, no one responded, because the caravan had left a long time ago. But it must be said that when going on this journey, Akhmed took with him a cat, which he bought for tumen. When the caravan moved on, the cat did not go with them and remained to wait for the owner at the well. Bending over the hole, she meowed endlessly.
The next morning a caravan passed by the well. People heard the cat screaming and tearing its throat. They thought: “There is some kind of secret here.” The owner of the caravan approached the well and heard a voice from there:
- Hey, passers-by, help me get out...
The caravan driver called his comrades, they lowered the rope and pulled out Ahmed. He told what happened to him, and together they went on. We reached the land of Thin Legs. They settled down for the night in a caravanserai. The servants set the table, the guests sat down, and the owner and his entire family, with clubs in their hands, stood behind the travelers. This scared the people very much; it seemed to them that the owners wanted to kill them. Therefore the caravan master said:
- Oh brothers, if you are thinking of killing us, kill us before you feed us, save us from the torment of waiting, what kind of wild custom do you have?
But the owner of the house answered this:
“We didn’t even think about killing you, wait, let the food be served, then you will see what we want to do.”
The servants brought in the food, and at that very moment so many rats and mice flew in from all sides that there weren’t even bones left in the plates. The owner and his family attacked them, but could not kill them all, but killed a dozen. The rest fled to their holes. The guests were amazed, and Ahmed asked the owner:
- Brother, don’t you have a cat?
- Cats? - the owner asked. - What is a cat? There is no such creature in our area.
Then Ahmed brought his cat. The food arrived again. Ahmed released the cat. As soon as the rats came out of their holes, she pounced on them and strangled them all one by one. The owner of the caravanserai froze in surprise. Having come to his senses, he begged Ahmed to sell him the cat. And in return he gave him a lot of gold. The next day, another caravan left for Ahmed's hometown. He took a pomegranate, a nut, donated by the diva, a little gold received for the cat, and sent it to his wife, and he and the caravan went further through the cities and villages and began to trade. Let him walk around and trade, and we will see what happened to his wife.
Having received the gold sent by Ahmed, she called masons and built a seven-story palace. So beautiful that in comparison with it, the palace of her father the Shah could seem like a stable. And when the house was ready, she wanted to eat the pomegranate sent by Ahmed. But she broke it in half and suddenly saw that inside, instead of grains, there were tons of precious stones. Having changed them, she furnished the palace with expensive utensils and decorated it with fine fabrics.
Soon Ahmed returned from his trip. He went to his hut, but did not find it, but saw a tall palace. Ahmed asked the servant who stood at the door:
“Brother, there once was a small house here, do you know where it went?”
“This is the very house you are asking about,” answered the servant.
It seemed to Ahmed that the servant was mocking. So he asked again:
- Brother, why are you deceiving me?
Faty-Gary, Ahmed’s grandmother, came out to hear the noise. Recognizing her grandson, she cried out:
- Son, don’t you recognize me? This house was built by your wife.
When Ahmed entered the house and saw how richly and beautifully it was decorated inside, doubts again seized him. Then the wife told how she built this house. After feeding her husband, she broke the nut sent by Ahmed. But instead of pulp, the nut contained silk clothes worthy of a Shah. She took out these clothes, dressed her husband and said:
- Now, Ahmed, we will invite our father to visit. Whatever he asks, answer only the truth.
Morning has come. The girl invited her father and all his courtiers. When the Shah entered his daughter's house, he was speechless with surprise. There was no such wealth even in his treasury. The guests were led to a table laden with the most exquisite dishes in the world. After eating to his heart's content, the Shah asked Ahmed:
- Son, who built this house? Where did you get all this luxury?
Ahmed told the Shah about everything that had happened to him.
“May the Shah be healthy,” he finished, “everything you see was done by your daughter.” And she built this house, and she gave me a happy life.
And his wife asked him:
- Father, are you now convinced that the house is being built by a woman? The Shah lowered his head and replied:
- You're right, my daughter.
And he ordered the wedding of his daughter and Ahmed to be played for seven days and seven nights.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru