In one distant kingdom, all the inhabitants were impatiently waiting for the three royal daughters to get married. And no wonder: after all, according to the laws of that kingdom, they could choose anyone they wanted as their husbands, and the most difficult thing for them was to decide whom exactly to choose.
Finally, they begged their father to arrange for them a review of the entire population of the kingdom so that they could choose. The first daughter chose the tall, handsome son of a minister, and the second daughter chose the muscular and agile son of Emir al-Jash, the commander of the army, however, everyone assumed so. But the third, the youngest, could not make up her mind, and the more people passed by, the more lost she became.
And then the girl took the apple and threw it into the air and shouted:
- Whoever catches it will be my husband!
And it so happened that the apple was caught by a hunchbacked and lame young man, whose face was wrapped with the end of a turban, who could not move without the help of a staff.
This is exactly how people saw him when he climbed onto the pedestal to receive his prize.
The crowd laughed, more out of habit, because in fact no one wanted such a person to rule the kingdom. The minister's son and the military commander began to whisper, and the king said:
“The king’s word is inviolable, so let the stupid girl get her jester, or clown, or whoever she wants.” At least I still have two faithful and reliable sons-in-law!
Of course, no one knew then that the young man was only pretending to be the way he was seen, his limp was feigned, and his hunched position was rehearsed. And all because he did not want to be recognized, for he was the Hashemite Emir and was hiding from mortal punishment.
All three daughters celebrated their wedding. But since the youngest prince, Ibn Haydar, did not agree to reveal his face, he and his wife were sent by an angry father to the stables, where they began to live.
Even his own wife did not know who Ibn Haydar was, but she loved her husband, no matter what he looked like, and they both accepted their new life of poverty and exile, for such was their lot.
Usually in the evenings Ibn Haydar would retire away from the city and spend time in contemplation in a small cave, where no one could observe him. A few months later he met an old man who said:
- O Son of the Lion! (For this is what Ibn Haydar meant.) Know that you should wait until the Day of the Lioness' Milk. When you hear about him, make efforts to return,” here the old man handed him a transparent stone. “Rub it in your right palm and think about a small broken coin, and you will call upon the Black Mare to help you.”
Having said this, he went his way.
Time passed, and it so happened that the king went to war along with his sons-in-law and generals. Naturally, they left the lame and hunchbacked Ibn Haydar at home. They fought many battles and finally it became clear that the enemies were gaining the upper hand. At that moment, Ibn Haydar felt that the stone in his pocket became hot. He pulled it out and rubbed it, not forgetting the broken coin. A luxurious mare, black as night, immediately appeared in front of him and spoke:
- My lord! Put on the armor that is strapped to the saddle, we are going to fight.
Once he was fully dressed in knightly robes, she picked him up and jumped straight into the skies, covering the distance to the battlefield.
The mysterious knight fought from dawn to dusk, and his enemies were routed, almost entirely due to his bravery. The king rode up to him and threw a Kashmiri shawl over his shoulders with the words:
- Blessed be the noble knight who helps good and opposes evil. Know that we are indebted to you.
But Ibn Haydar did not answer. He bowed to the king, saluted him with a spear and, spurring his mare, disappeared into the clouds.
Then the warriors returned home, full of stories about the mysterious knight who saved them, and they said about him: “The Black Knight from Heaven.” The king repeated again and again:
“I would leave the kingdom to this man!”
Ibn Haydar, of course, continued to be a target of ridicule and was treated as a nonentity, even though he was the husband of a princess.
It was daytime and the young man was sitting in his stable when the stone became hot again. When he rubbed it (not forgetting about the coin), the mare appeared in front of him:
- Sit down quickly! There's a case!
She carried him to the royal castle, straight to the king's bedroom, where he got there just in time to kill the snake, which had almost bitten the sleeping king. At that moment the king woke up and saw what could happen. In the twilight he did not see his savior, but he took off his ring with a ruby of incalculable value and said:
“Whoever you are, I owe you my life.” Take this ring: it will be your sign.
Ibn Haydar took the ring and returned to his miserable stable.
Months passed until the stone reminded itself again and it called the mare.
“Put on your clothes and the turban that is in the bag by the saddle,” the horse shouted. “An important matter awaits us.”
She carried Ibn Haydar to the throne room, where the execution was about to take place. The executioner had already laid out a leather rug so as not to stain the floor and, raising his sword, waited for the king's order. At the sight of a black mare with a muffled rider, everyone froze, as if they had become numb. Ibn Haydar waited, and soon everyone heard a noise coming from the entrance to the throne room. A man ran in with irrefutable evidence that the convict was innocent. Everyone was amazed, and the king said:
“Blessed is he who intervenes in matters for the sake of justice!” Take this sword as a token of my gratitude!
Without saying a word, Ibn Haydar belted his sword and the mare carried him back through the clouds to his stable.
Again nothing happened for many months until the king became ill. All the light went dark in the kingdom, and all the inhabitants went in mourning. Even the animals became subdued, the trees drooped, and the sun itself dimmed. None of the doctors could find a cure until the greatest of them, Hakim Al Hakuma, Doctor of Doctors, declared:
“This disease cannot be cured by anything other than a sip of lioness’ milk brought from the Land of Non-existence.”
Without hesitating a moment, the king's two sons-in-law rode out of the palace, determined to win the glory of being the savior of their father-in-law and master.
A few days later they found themselves at a crossroads. The road forked into three parts and the two could not decide which one to follow. They asked the local sage for advice and he said:
— Each of these paths has its own name. The first is called: “The Road of Those Who Do What We Do, Ties of Blood.” The second is called: “The Road of Those Who Think as We Do, the Bond of Decision.” The third path is called the “Road of Truth.”
The first prince decided:
“I will go along the Road of Blood, for I am here by the grace of His Majesty,” and he spurred his horse.
The second one said:
“I will choose the Road of Decision, because determination is my path,” and galloped along the second road.
Soon the first of them found himself at the gates of the city and asked the man sitting there where he was.
“You are at the gates of the “Land of Non-Being,” he answered him, “but you will not be able to enter until we play chess.”
They played, and the young man lost. First he lost his horse, then his armor, his money, and finally his freedom.
The player took it to the city and sold it to a fried meat seller.
The second young man suffered the same fate. He lost everything and ended up in slavery to a candy seller.
Months passed, and when hope for the return of the knights faded, Ibn Haydar felt the heat of the stone and summoned the Black Mare.
- The time has come! - she neighed, - sit on me!
He galloped along the same road, and soon found himself at the same crossroads.
The sage offered him a choice and Ibn Haydar immediately said:
— I choose the Road of Truth!
He was about to gallop away, when suddenly the sage stopped him:
- You made the right choice. Follow this path, but when you meet a Player, do not engage in a game with him, rather challenge him to a fight.
Ibn Haydar galloped along the road, and when the chess player invited him to play, he pulled out his sword and shouted:
- In the name of Truth, not games! Go out to a real battle, not a toy battle, with the one whose battle cry is “O people of Hashim”!
The player surrendered without a fight and told Ibn Haydar what happened to his sworn brothers.
He led Ibn Haydar into the city and showed him where the lioness was kept. After outwitting the guards and subduing the lioness, he managed to obtain three flasks of lion's milk. He put two of them in bags near the saddle, and hid the third in his turban, in case something happened to the first two.
Then he freed his sworn brothers from slavery, although they did not recognize him in knightly garb. That same night they each stole a flask of milk and disappeared under the cover of darkness.
Ibn Haydar gave them time to return to the court, and then in one leap he overcame the space that separated him from the palace where the dying king lay.
At his appearance, the courtiers and princes, huddled around the king's bed, shuddered, for he was wearing a Kashmir shawl, a ruby ring and a royal sword.
“Here is the milk of a lioness from the Land of Non-Being,” he said as he approached.
- But it's too late! - everyone present made a noise.
“My princes have already brought me milk,” said the king, “but it did not help.”
“That’s because they stole it from me, the one who got it.” And everything good disappears from what is obtained by theft. Here is a flask - drink, O King!
As soon as the king’s lips touched the milk, he sat down, healed.
-Where did you come from, who are you, and why are you helping me? - asked the king.
The young man answered:
— These three questions are essentially one, and the answer to the first of them is the answer to everything. And the answer to the second is the answer to everything. And the answer to the third will also be the answer to everything.
The king still did not understand.
“Okay,” said Ibn Haydar. “I’m the one who lives in the stable, which means I’m your daughter’s husband, that’s why I’m helping you.”
This is how Ibn Haydar inherited the kingdom when the king went on his longest journey.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru