Once upon a time, in a city in the far West, there lived a girl named Fatima. She was the daughter of a prosperous spinner. One day her father told her:
- My daughter, get ready to go. We're going on a journey. I have some business in the Mediterranean islands. Maybe there you will meet a handsome young man with a good future who will love you and you will get married.
So they went on a journey. The father was busy with his trading business, and Fatima spent her time dreaming about her future husband. One day, when they were sailing towards Crete, they were caught in a terrible storm and the ship sank. Fatima, who lost consciousness, was washed ashore by the waves near Alexandria. Her father and everyone on the ship died, and she was left alone without any support.
The scene of the shipwreck and the long stay on the open sea affected her so much that she had only vague memories of her past life.
When she woke up, she got up and walked along the shore. There she came across a weaver's family. They were poor people, but they were filled with compassion for her plight, took her into their wretched home and taught her their craft.
And so a second life began for her. She lived with them quite happily for a year or two and was satisfied with her lot. But one day, when for some reason she came ashore, she was grabbed by slave traders, taken to a ship and taken away along with other slaves. Fatima's laments and bitter complaints did not evoke a drop of pity among these people; they brought her to Istanbul to sell her there as a slave.
There were few buyers at the slave market. One of them was looking for a slave to work in a shop making ship masts. The unhappy appearance of Fatima attracted his attention and, wanting to ease her lot, he bought her, because he thought that it would be easier for her than with another owner. He brought Fatima to him, deciding to give her to his wife’s service. But sad news awaited him at home: the ship with his goods, in which he had invested all his capital, was captured by pirates. Now he could not afford to support workers, and he, his wife and Fatima had to start making masts themselves.
Fatima, grateful to her owner for his kindness, worked so diligently that he soon granted her freedom, and she became his confidant and assistant. So, a third life began for her, and she again felt quite happy. One day the owner told her:
“Fatima, I want you to go as my agent to Java with a load of masts and sell them there at a profit.”
And so Fatima set sail, but off the coast of China a powerful typhoon hit her ship and sank it. By some miracle, the girl managed to escape again, and she woke up on an unfamiliar land. Having come to her senses a little, she began to cry loudly about her unhappy fate. Just as her life seems to be approaching prosperity, a merciless fate destroys all her hopes.
“Why does this happen,” she exclaimed, “no matter what I undertake, inevitable failure always awaits me.” Why do so many misfortunes fall on me?
But no one answered her, and she, forcing herself to get up, went wherever her eyes looked. Although no one in China had ever heard of Fatima or knew of her ordeal, everyone, however, knew the ancient legend that some foreign woman would one day come to their country and make a tent for their emperor. Since no one in China knew how to make tents, everyone awaited the fulfillment of this prediction with keen interest. In order not to miss this woman when she arrived, each Chinese emperor, according to tradition, once a year sent messengers to all cities and villages, who were supposed to deliver all foreign women to the capital.
When Fatima reached the nearest seaside town, the imperial decree on foreigners had just been announced there, and people, noticing her, realized that she was from afar, and brought her to the imperial envoys. Fatima was taken to the palace and led into the throne room. The Son of Heaven asked her:
- Girl, can you make us a tent?
“I think I can,” Fatima answered.
She was given a room and she got to work. First of all, she needed a rope. But no one even knew what it was. Then Fatima, remembering her first craft as a spinner, collected flax and twisted a rope. Then she ordered to bring durable cloth. In all of China there was no such matter as she needed. Remembering what she had learned from the Alexandrian weavers, she wove a strong cloth. Finally, to finish the work, she needed poles, but there weren’t any in the whole kingdom. Here the mast-making skill she acquired in Istanbul came in handy, and she deftly made reliable poles. Having completed this work, she began to remember what all kinds of tents that she had seen in her wanderings around the world looked like, and finally assembled a tent.
When this miracle was shown to the emperor, he was so delighted that he promised Fatima to fulfill any of her wishes. She wished to stay in China, where she soon married a handsome prince, with whom she lived a long and happy life, leaving behind numerous offspring.
Thus, Fatima realized that what seemed to her at one time to be difficult trials suddenly turned into the necessary experience that helped her achieve ultimate happiness.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru