Once upon a time there lived a rich merchant. One day he decided to go to foreign countries to trade. I bought a lot of different goods, said goodbye to my wife and hit the road. He moved from one country to another until he arrived in a city. There he stayed in a caravanserai. And in this city there was a custom that every foreign merchant had to present the Shah with a worthy gift. After this, the Shah invited the merchant to visit him and play backgammon with him. And so our merchant laid out a lot of expensive fabrics on a tray and went to the palace to the Shah. The Shah told him that he had a cat that could hold seven lamps on its tail from evening until morning. Then he invited the merchant to play backgammon with the following condition: if the cat holds seven lamps on its tail from evening until morning, then the Shah will receive all the goods brought by the merchant and his cash, and the merchant himself will go to prison; and if the cat cannot stand this, then the merchant will receive the entire Shah’s treasury and put the Shah in prison. And the merchant was forced to agree to this.
As soon as the Shah called the cat, she came, curled her tail and sat down in front of him. The Shah ordered seven lamps to be placed on her tail and began to play backgammon with the merchant. They played for three days and three nights, and during this time the cat never moved its tail. Finally, exhausted, the merchant stood up and admitted defeat. The greedy and cruel Shah ordered his hands to be tied and thrown into prison, and he took all the goods and money of the merchant for himself.
The merchant's servant saw that such a misfortune had happened to his master, hurried back to his homeland and told the merchant's wife about it. She immediately ordered to catch more mice and put them in the chest. Then she disguised herself as a merchant, took servants with her, and set off with the caravan. Upon arrival in the city where her husband was languishing in prison, she put a precious gift on a tray and went to the Shah, and handed over a chest of mice to her servants and instructed them to let several mice into the room where she would play backgammon with the Shah.
The Shah received the merchant's wife with honor and invited her to play backgammon with him on the same terms as he played with her husband. She agreed. The Shah called the cat. She immediately came running, curled her tail and sat down in front of him. After seven lamps were placed on her tail, the Shah and the merchant’s wife sat down to play backgammon. After some time, the servants let several mice into the room.
As soon as the cat saw the mice, she wanted to rush after them, but the Shah looked at her so menacingly that she remained sitting in place. A little later, the servants let a few more mice into the room. This time the cat could not stand it, rushed in their direction, dropped the lamps and caught all the mice one by one.
At the agreed sign, the servants of the merchants' wives entered the room, tightly tied the Shah's hands and imprisoned him, and freed the merchant.
So the merchant's wife saved her husband and delivered the people from the cruel Shah.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru