There lived a shepherd. He tended the padishah's flocks. This shepherd had a beautiful daughter. The padishah was told about the beauty:
“You won’t find another like it in the whole world.” The padishah sent matchmakers to the shepherd.
- I will marry a man who knows some craft. “What craft does the padishah know?” asked the beauty.
- She's gone crazy! I am the padishah, the ruler of the living and the dead of my country, the owner of treasures and treasures! “Why do I need some kind of craft?” the padishah became angry and did not want to answer the shepherd’s daughter.
But one day the padishah happened to see the beauty himself. He liked her so much that he only thought about her. He called his wazirs and asked them which craft was the best.
“All crafts are good in their own way,” said the wazirs, listing the merits of different crafts. Finally they decided that the best craft was carpet weaving.
“Find and send to me the best carpet weavers,” the padishah ordered.
The most skilled weaver began to teach the padishah.
Soon the padishah learned to weave carpets and could weave a carpet in five days.
The padishah sometimes liked to walk in disguise through the streets of his city in the evenings and watch how his people lived.
One day he dressed up as a beggar and walked through the streets, through the bazaars, but did not meet anything interesting. He went into a tavern, threw two coins into the owner’s palm and asked for a cup of pilaf.
The owner put him in the corner of the tavern and went to get pilaf. In another corner of the tavern some people were sitting with knives in their belts. They argued loudly and cast sidelong, unkind glances at the padishah. The padishah felt terrified by these wild looks.
- Who here will believe me that I am a padishah? Who will protect me here? - he thought. - On the contrary, if they find out that I am a padishah, they will certainly kill me and hide!
Before the owner had time to serve him the pilaf, two robbers jumped up to the padishah and, threatening him with sharp knives, dragged him into another room, from another to a third. And so they dragged him to the farthest room, from where no scream could reach the street. Here they threw the padishah to the floor.
“We’ll give this beggar to the padishah’s executioners instead of our comrade,” said one robber.
- Don't hand me over to the executioners! •—the padishah prayed. - I'll pay you well for this.
The robbers laughed:
- You are a beggar, how will you pay us? The padishah suddenly remembered his craft.
- I can give you a good income. I know a craft that will make you rich.
“What craft?” asked the robbers.
- I know how to weave carpets, I will weave carpets for you, for which you will get a lot of money.
The robbers consulted and decided to leave the weaver alive, lock him in this room and force him to weave carpets. And if it turns out that he lied, kill him.
In five days the padishah wove a beautiful carpet. The robbers sold it at the market for a lot of money.
They did not notice that the padishah had woven his padishah seal in the corner of the carpet between the patterns.
Five more days passed. The padishah wove a second carpet. It was brighter and more beautiful than the first.
“Take this carpet to the palace of the padishah,” said the weaver to the robbers. “There is a famous master in the palace who should value this carpet dearly.”
The robbers took the new carpet and took it to the padishah's palace to sell it.
They came to the palace and began to ask permission to show the carpet to the padishah.
The vasirs could not let them see the padishah, who was not in the palace, but they ordered to call the padishah’s teacher and show the carpet to him.
The padishah weaver surrounded the carpet very high. The robbers received a lot of money for the carpet. They strengthened supervision over the padishah and ordered him to weave new carpets day and night.
Meanwhile, the padishah’s teacher, admiring the carpet, looked at the familiar design and guessed that it was the padishah’s work. And when he discovered the sign of the padishah’s seal in the pattern, he called the wazirs and said:
“You need to look for the padishah using these carpets.”
The Wazirs sent servants to look for the carpet sellers and track down where they lived.
The padishah's warriors surrounded the house and thoroughly searched the entire premises. In the farthest room they found a small locked door.
Opening the door, the soldiers saw their padishah - he was weaving a carpet.
The released padishah ordered the robbers to be caught and imprisoned, and he himself returned to the palace and summoned all the courtiers.
“I order that my teacher, who taught me how to make carpets, be given the most expensive gifts and ensure him a comfortable life until the end of his days,” the padishah announced.
“Now go to the shepherd’s daughter and tell her that she is not only beautiful, but also smart.” She reasoned correctly: every person should know some craft.
So the shepherd’s daughter taught the padishah to work.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru