One padishah had three daughters. One day he decided to visit his daughters. First, the padishah told his eldest daughter that he and his viziers were going to stay with her. The eldest daughter prepared all sorts of treats and put all the rooms in order. The padishah and his viziers ate and drank, and before leaving the padishah asked his daughter:
-Where do you get so much wealth?
“It’s all from your wealth,” the daughter answered. The Padishah liked this very much and said:
- Thank you, my daughter!
The next day he informed his middle daughter that tomorrow he would be visiting her with the viziers. She also put everything in order.
When the padishah and the viziers ate and drank, the padishah asked his daughter before leaving:
-Where did you get your wealth?
“It’s from your wealth,” she also answered.
“Thank you, my daughter,” said the padishah.
The youngest daughter found out about this. But when, in turn, she received the notification, she did not begin to prepare, like her older sisters, she did not clear out the rooms. When the padishah arrived with the viziers, she treated them to what she had. Before leaving, the padishah asked:
-Where did you get this wealth?
“All this was given to me by Allah,” she answered.
The padishah did not like this answer.
- What do you mean, Allah gave? You live on my means, but you say what Allah gave you?
“And Allah gave it to you too,” said the daughter; “If Allah had not given it to you, there would have been nothing for me to eat.”
It's morning. The padishah wanted to cut off the head of his youngest daughter. The viziers begged not to do this, saying:
- She's your daughter! Your name will be eclipsed in front of other padishahs and lose its greatness. Rather than kill your daughter, it is better to marry her to a poor man, so that she will know the need and die of hunger.
The padishah agreed.
They found a poor man in the city sitting by the road, his name was Lazy Ahmed.
Ahmed had an old mother, and they lived in a small hut. He was so lazy that he only ate when passers-by put food directly into his mouth; if they did not do this, he remained hungry.
The youngest daughter was married to him.
When she came to Lazy in the evening, he perked up. In the morning the girl gave him a ruble; Akhmed took the ruble and went to the market. There he met a merchant.
“Ahmed,” the merchant asked him, “where are you coming from?”
“The padishah,” he answered, “gave his daughter in marriage to me; she gave me a ruble and told me to go to the market and buy something, but on the condition that I would not change the ruble. Now I'm in a quandary, I don't know what to do.
“Come to me,” the merchant told him. “You will work for me, take care of my mules, and I will pay you.”
Ahmed went and cleaned out the stable of mules. Before evening the merchant came and said to him:
“Come here tomorrow, prepare a mash of this sand and cover the roof with it.”
Ahmed did all this, in addition, he fulfilled other orders of the merchant. The merchant gave him a large plate of pilaf and bread, various things and money. So he worked for several days for a merchant.
One day a merchant said to him:
“I’m going to a distant city and I want to take you with me.”
“I have to talk to my wife,” answered Ahmed, “if she agrees, then I’ll go.”
He went to his wife. She agreed.
As they were traveling, their water ran out. On the way they came across a well. They lowered a bucket into it on a rope, but pulled out an empty bucket.
“Someone will have to go down into the well,” said the merchant, “someone there won’t give us water.”
Ahmed had to go down. The merchant tied a rope around him and he went down into the well. Ahmed saw the sleeping diva there and asked:
-Why don’t you give us water?
Div replied:
- Give me sakkyz and I will give you water.
Ahmed was pulled out of the well. A piece of sakkyz was found in the caravan; Ahmed came down and gave it to the diva. Div gave him water and one pomegranate. The whole caravan drank water. Ahmed saw another caravan coming here. He took the sakkyz from them, went down into the well and again gave water to the whole caravan. Div gave him another pomegranate. Thus he received two grenades. This second caravan was just heading in the direction of the city where Ahmed lived. Ahmed gave his money and grenades to this caravan and asked them to give them to his wife and mother. He himself went to the city of Isfahan.
We spent the night in a caravanserai; Ahmed removed the horses. I fed them and decided to take a walk around the outskirts of the city. There was a swimming pool here; he undressed and bathed. Then I went to bed near the pool.
At this time three pigeons flew in and sat on a tree. One of them said:
- Sister, do you know this Ahmed?
“This is that Ahmed,” said another, “who had a small hut by the road.” He was so lazy that if they did not put bread in his mouth, he remained hungry. The padishah of that city gave his daughter to him so that she would die of hunger; and Ahmed and the merchant came here. Let's give him something.
— Is Ahmed sleeping or not sleeping? - asked the dove. - If Ahmed sleeps, let him sleep lightly; if he is not sleeping soundly, let him hear: at the bottom of this pool lie seven jugs of gold. I give them to him. Let him wake up, search and find.
Ahmed heard it all.
“The daughter of the Indian padishah is sick,” said another dove, “and she can only be cured of this illness with the leaves of this tree.” You need to take a leaf of this tree and rub it on her body. She will recover, and she will be married to someone who will cure her.
“To reach India,” said the third dove, “you need to cross several seas.” I will give him a branch of this tree; if he strikes the sea with it, the road will be opened for him.
Ahmed heard everything. The birds have flown away. Ahmed stood up and began searching for gold in the pool. He began to dig and suddenly saw a large stone, and under the stone there was a hole. He crawled through the hole and found seven jugs filled with gold, and in the last jug a golden rooster. He came out of the hole and covered it with a stone so that no one would notice. Late in the evening he returned to the city.
“Where have you been so far?” asked the merchant.
“I was walking,” answered Ahmed, but he did not tell the merchant anything about his secret.
In the morning, Ahmed picked a few leaves and a small branch from the tree that the dove had pointed out. The caravan set off towards India. They reached the sea and could not cross it.
“Let’s go to bed,” said Ahmed, “maybe we’ll find our way in the morning.”
At midnight, Ahmed woke up, hit the sea with a branch, and a road opened in front of him. In the morning they woke up and saw that there was no sea, and in its place there was a good road.
Finally, they reached the city where the daughter of the Indian padishah lived. We stopped at a caravanserai.
“I want to take a walk around the city,” said Ahmed and went into the city, bought clothes like hakims wear, and put a few leaves in his pocket. In front of the palace of the padishah, he met a man and asked:
— Is it true what they say that the padishah’s daughter is sick? I came to cure her. Tell the padishah that a new hakim has arrived.
The man reported this to the padishah. The padishah called Ahmed to him and said:
- Listen, hakim! I have already put thirty doctors in prison and swore that when the fortieth one comes, I will order the heads of all of them to be cut off.
“I’ll come tomorrow,” said Ahmed. “You order all the shops to be closed, and let your daughter go to the bathhouse.” I'll go there and heal her.
Then Ahmed returned to the caravanserai, changed clothes and began cleaning the horses in the stable.
The next morning he again dressed as a hakim and went to the palace. By order of the padishah, all the shops in the bazaar were closed, and not a single person was on the street. The daughter of the padishah went to the bathhouse. Ahmed also went to the bathhouse, took the leaves, burned them, mixed the ashes in the water and anointed the girl’s body.
The girl lay unconscious. When she woke up a little later, she no longer had any illness - she recovered. The padishah was informed about this. The padishah ordered to cover the entire road from the bathhouse with carpets and bring his daughter along them to the palace.
We had a celebration. Padishah said:
“I gave my word to marry my daughter to someone who will cure her.”
“I’ll answer you tomorrow,” said Ahmed.
Evening had already come, and Ahmed returned to the caravanserai. When the merchant asked him where he had been, Ahmed could no longer hide the secret from the merchant and told him everything.
“All this wealth and the girl,” Ahmed said to the merchant, “belong to you, since I achieved all this with.” with your help.
“No, Allah sent all this to you,” said the merchant. “Now you have no reason to stay with me.” Get married tomorrow and take the girl to your homeland, and we will return when we finish our trade.
“I can’t leave you here,” said Ahmed, “I acquired this wealth with you.”
Ahmed came to the palace, married the princess and returned with her to the merchant.
“Buy ten to fifteen camels,” said the merchant, “several boxes and several bales of cloth, then go to the pool, take the treasure, put it in it at night.” drawers and cover them with cloth so that no one notices.
Ahmed did as the merchant told him. Then he went to the padishah and said that he was going to his homeland. The padishah prepared a good dowry for his daughter. Then Ahmed, with camels and several horsemen, went to the city where the treasure was located.
Let them travel for now, and I’ll tell you about Ahmed’s first wife.
The merchants handed over the money and grenades to Ahmed's wife. One day, Ahmed’s wife and mother ran out of money. Ahmed's mother told her daughter-in-law that she wanted to eat something sour and asked for a pomegranate, which her son sent. They cut one garnet and saw that it was filled with precious stones. They decided to build a good house with these precious stones. We came to an agreement with the craftsmen and workers and began to build a house. In a month they built a building that had never been seen in any other kingdom.
They built a high wall around the palace and hired many servants. Ahmed's wife began to live better than she lived with her father. Let them live here for now, and now we will return to Ahmed.
Ahmed arrived in a city where there was a swimming pool. At midnight he put all the treasure in boxes and went to his hometown. Ahmed left the camels on the edge of the city and headed to his hut, but in its place he saw a magnificent palace. He knocked on the door, the servants came out and told his wife that some horseman had arrived and wanted to enter the courtyard. The daughter of the padishah came to the door and asked:
-Who's there?
“It’s me,” Ahmed answers.
- Who are you? she asks.
Ahmed forgot his name and says:
“I forgot my name, wait, I’ll go find out and then I’ll tell you.”
He returned to the edge of the city and asked his name. He was told that his name was Agha-Ahmed. He again came to the palace and said his name. They opened the door and saw that it was, indeed, Ahmed. His wife hugged him, and Ahmed spread his arms and said to himself:
“I left, and my wife became a walking woman and completed the construction of such a building.”
He went upstairs and saw his mother looking younger, as if she were a fourteen-year-old girl. Ahmed greeted his mother very coldly.
“I know what you’re thinking,” said the padishah’s daughter. - Give up all these inventions.
She brought a pomegranate and continued:
- This is the same pomegranate that you sent us. We cut it open and saw that it was filled with precious stones. We built this building with half of these stones.
“There’s very little here,” Ahmed said. “I brought so much wealth that it is many times greater than this.”
They brought the camels to the palace, unloaded them and stored all the gold and things in the barn.
The merchant also soon returned. Ahmed prepared gifts of precious stones for the merchant.
One day the padishah went hunting. Seeing him from afar, the daughter of the padishah dressed up in expensive clothes and adorned herself with precious stones. When the padishah drove past the windows, she went to the window and threw a piece of black cloth onto the street. Seeing her, the padishah thought:
“How beautiful she is!” - he screamed and grabbed his heart.
“What’s wrong with you?” the vizier asked the padishah.
- Take me home! - answered the padishah.
Ahmed's wife returned to her husband and told him:
“Tomorrow my father will send matchmakers and ask for my hand, and you agree to this.”
Ahmed said there is no need to do this.
“It’s none of your business,” the wife replied. The next morning there was a knock on the door. Ahmed went out and saw the vizier.
“I was sent by the padishah,” said the vizier, “you have a girl, the padishah wants to marry her.”
- This is my sister, she is an orphan... I agree.
The vizier returned to the padishah and told him about this. The padishah once again sent the vizier there to ask when he could come for her.
“Allow us to take the bride soon,” said the vizier, coming to Ahmed. - What are you asking us for a girl?
The next morning the padishah sent them everything they needed. Ahmed's wife accepted everything.
They made a kebin and took her to the palace. When the padishah arrived, he saw her sitting on the throne. At the sight of the padishah, she stood up, sat down behind the throne and turned her back to the padishah. The padishah was surprised that she did not say anything.
“You were brought for me, not me for you,” he said.
Finally, she couldn’t stand it anymore, threw off her veil and said:
- Shame on you! Can a father marry his daughter?
The padishah saw that she was indeed his daughter. He felt ashamed and sent her home. In the morning she arranged a big feast and invited the padishah and all his viziers. After the feast, everyone left, but she left her father with her.
-Where do you get so much wealth? - the padishah asked her.
“I will show you my wealth tomorrow,” she answered.
In the morning she showed her father all her wealth, and the padishah was delighted.
“Do you remember, father, when I told you that Allah gives everything, you got angry with me and married me to a lazy man so that I would die of hunger.” But if Allah wants to give to someone, he will give it to him.
“My son, Ahmed,” said the padishah. “My other daughters became unhappy. I have grown old, now you must take my throne and crown, and I will retire from worldly affairs and devote myself to prayers.
They ate, drank and achieved their desired goal. Let those who have not yet achieved it also find it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru