In one village lived an old effendi Hasan. While serving in the mosque, he still found time to collect and study medicinal herbs and roots, from which he prepared useful medicines, and was known among the people as a skilled healer. The inhabitants of his village constantly came to him, and the inhabitants of remote villages often looked into his hut.
Efendi Hasan had an only daughter, her name was Fatma; She was a beautiful and smart girl, her old father loved her very much. Seeing with what interest she followed his medicinal experiments, he began to introduce her to the healing properties of herbs and roots, and when Efendi Hasan happened to be away from home, and this happened quite often, he fearlessly left his home pharmacy in the hands of his daughter.
One day, Efendi Hasan was returning from a distant village along a familiar mountain path and was quite frightened and surprised when he saw a human skull on the road. At first, under the influence of fear, he wanted to run away, but curiosity forced him to overcome his fear, go up to the skull and take it in his hands. But how amazed the old man was when he saw an inscription on the skull that read: “Seven people still have to die from me.”
Having read this mysterious inscription, Efendi Hasan wrapped the skull in a scarf and quickly set off on his way, all the time thinking about the mysterious threat of the skull. Arriving home and locking himself in his room, Effendi Hasan began to think about what to do with his find: whether to notify the residents of his native village, whether to tell his daughter and consult with her, or to keep everything a secret.
After much thought, Efendi Hasan decided to keep everything a secret, so as not to needlessly worry the inhabitants of the village and not to frighten his daughter, and to immediately burn the skull. “The fire will destroy all the spells,” thought Efendi Hasan, “and thus the threat of the skull itself will lose its power.”
Having decided so, the old man lit a fire in the hearth, and when the wood flared up and flames appeared, Efendi Hasan threw the skull into the hearth. He had to wait a long time for the skull bones to turn into ash, but he waited patiently for this, then he carefully collected all the ash and poured it into a scarf, tied the bag tightly with a string and hid it in the most remote corner of his home medicine cabinet. After that he completely calmed down.
Soon the idea came to his mind to go to Mecca to worship the Kaaba, and he began to get ready for the journey. His pilgrimage was supposed to last at least a year, and Efendi Hasan arranged his household affairs according to this. Since he had no one close to him except his daughter, the effendi left her as the complete mistress of all his property. Fatma cried bitterly when she learned that her father was leaving and leaving her alone for such a long time, but, like a submissive daughter, she did not dare to object or persuade. Saying goodbye to Fatma, Efendi Hasan advised her not to be sad.
“If,” he said, “a moment of sadness comes over you, you will always drive it away with work.” Go through my medicinal herbs, sort them, as I taught you, and you, busy with useful work, will remember me without sadness.
After her father left, Fatma cried for a long time and could not get down to anything, but finally she was ashamed of her cowardice, decided to follow her father’s advice and began to sort and sort medicinal herbs and roots. There were a lot of them, they were all laid out in separate bags, and Fatma had a lot of work to do. One day, while going through the bags and looking at their contents, she came across a scarf in which the ashes of a burnt skull were tied. Opening the scarf and seeing some kind of gray mass in it, Fatma stopped in surprise.
“What could this strange-looking medicine be and why didn’t my father tell me anything about it?” - she thought. And the girl decided to taste the powder; Taking a small pinch, Fatma put it on her tongue and made sure that it was simple ash.
Some time after this, the girl suddenly felt with horror that she was pregnant; from that time on, she could no longer calmly do work: shame and fear of her father caused her severe moral torment and deprived her of the opportunity to do anything. Time passed, and Effendi Hasan still did not return. Finally, Fatma gave birth to a beautiful, healthy boy; By this time the long-awaited Efendi Hasan had returned. When the inhabitants of the village heard about his return, they arranged a solemn meeting for the venerable old man, as the most honorable and respected person. Having greeted his fellow villagers and not seeing his daughter, Effendi Hasan finally could not stand it and asked:
- Tell me, what does it mean that I don’t see my daughter? Did she die or did something terrible happen to her? Answer me quickly.
Residents of the village, for whom the birth of Fatma’s child was no secret, responded like this:
- Your daughter gave birth without a husband.
This answer struck Efendi Hasan like a thunderbolt, and the villagers expected that they would now hear from the old man’s lips an inexorable cruel sentence to the despicable girl. But what was their surprise when Efendi Hasan, instead of the expected angry curse, uttered words of reconciliation and love:
“What you told me is very bitter for my heart and shameful for my father’s gray hair; but I love my daughter too much to destroy her - I sincerely forgive her and ask you to bring my daughter and her child to me.
Amazed by such generosity, the inhabitants of the village immediately fulfilled the wish of the old effendi, and Fatma and her newborn son were brought to him. The girl cried bitterly and did not dare to look into her father’s face.
“Don’t cry, Fatma,” said Efendi Hasan, “but rather tell me frankly how it happened, and remember that a father’s generosity can be limitless.”
Hearing these words, Fatma looked at her father with love and asked to be given the Koran.
- Father! – she exclaimed hotly, placing her hands on the Koran. “I swear on this sacred book that everything I tell you is the absolute truth, and then do with me what you want!”
And Fatma told Efendi Hasan in detail about what happened to her in his absence. After listening carefully to his daughter’s confession, the old man said:
- Calm down, my daughter! In my heart I do not condemn you and will not deprive you of my parental love; Your crime is not your fault - I was to blame myself! - and he told his daughter the story about the skull.
After this, Efendi Hasan solemnly recognized his daughter’s son as his grandson, and from that time on he passionately loved the child and surrounded him with care and tender care.
At the old man's request, the boy was named Isaac. It was an unusually beautiful and healthy child; the inhabitants of the village involuntarily looked at him and were surprised at his extremely rapid development and regal appearance.
The village in which Efendi Hasan lived was located on the seashore, and Turkish merchant ships often came here; and then one day, when Isaac was already twelve years old, a merchant who had just arrived saw him on the shore.
The boy’s extraordinary beauty captivated the rich merchant’s heart, and he began asking the people on the shore whose child it was and whether it was possible to buy him from his parents. He was advised to try his luck, but they could not guarantee his success, because the boy’s mother and especially his grandfather loved him too dearly to part with the child.
- ABOUT! - exclaimed the merchant. “I won’t spare any money just to buy this boy!” - and immediately asked one of those on the shore to go to Efendi Hasan for negotiations.
The messenger conveyed the merchant’s proposal to the old man, but Effendi Hasan replied that without his daughter’s consent he could not solve such an important matter, and, ordering him to wait, he himself went to his daughter’s half and conveyed to her the Turkish merchant’s proposal. After listening to her father and thinking, Fatma said:
- Okay, father, sell Isaac; just let this merchant give three hundred gold pieces for it! “It was three thousand rubles, and, naming this amount, Fatma was quite sure that the merchant would never give that kind of money and Isaac would stay with her. But the merchant, having heard from the messenger about the price, immediately expressed his consent without any haggling.
No matter how bitter it was for Efendi Hasan and Fatma, they could not change their word and had to part with Isaac. It was also bitter for the boy to leave his native village, where his childhood passed peacefully and where everyone loved him, but he resignedly submitted to the will of his mother and grandfather.
Having brought Isaac to his homeland, the merchant began his upbringing: he invited the best teachers to him and followed the young man’s extraordinary successes with joy and pride. In this city, where Isaac settled, there lived one childless couple, very rich people; and so they were attracted by the beauty of the young man: both the husband and the wife at the same time came up with the idea of adopting this young man, and they bargained with the merchant and offered him a thousand gold pieces for Isaac, which was ten thousand rubles. Although the merchant loved Isaac very much, the amount offered for him was so temptingly large that after some hesitation he agreed to give up the bid.
By this time, Isaac had already begun to forget the distant village and relatives; the noisy trading city to which he was brought, unprecedented buildings and palaces - all this distracted his thoughts from his homeland, and he wandered with great pleasure through the crowded streets, fixing his gaze with admiration on everything that came along the way. Isaac's named parents, passionately loving and jealously protecting their treasure from prying eyes, completely forbade him to go beyond the fence of the house.
But somehow Isaac disobeyed the orders of his named parents and went out into the street; here his attention was attracted by a group of horsemen riding past his house. It was a brilliant cavalcade: unknown people amazed with their precious clothes and their manners, and a rare breed of horse with their proud gait; everything revealed that these riders were not ordinary townspeople. Isaac, interested, could not take his eyes off the beautiful sight and decided that this was certainly the royal retinue, and Isaac recognized one rider, especially distinguished by the luxury of his clothing, as the king.
And indeed, it was the king, accompanied by his retinue, going for a walk. Having caught up with Isaac, the king glanced in his direction and froze in surprise, as if struck by something: the thought flashed through his mind that this young man with such a regal appearance could later become a dangerous rival for him. Stopping his horse, he ordered Isaac to come up to him and began to ask him in detail who he was, who his parents were and where he lived. Isaac answered the king's questions truthfully and told him everything he knew about himself. After this, the king wrote something on a piece of paper, sealed it and handed this letter to Isaac with the following instructions:
– Go to the fortress immediately, hand my letter personally to the commander of the fortress and wait for his orders.
Isaac, obedient to the will of the king, without even going home, went straight to the fortress. On his way, he had to pass by the royal palace, and while the young man reached the palace, the royal daughter, surrounded by her friends and servants, came out onto the balcony. Isaac involuntarily looked at the beautiful princess, and at that time their eyes met. The princess, looking at Isaac, in turn, was blinded by his beauty and in an involuntary impulse exclaimed:
- O beautiful young man, whoever you are, come to me! Isaac fulfilled the beautiful princess's wish with delight and timidity. Then she started asking him where he was going. Isaac told the princess about the king's order and showed the letter handed to him.
- Oh, you will still have time to fulfill the will of the king, my father, but first tell me who you are, where you live and who your parents are; but before you start telling about your fate, let’s enter the palace and let me treat you.
The princess led the young man into one of the luxurious halls of the palace and ordered the servants to bring all kinds of delicacies and refreshing drinks. When everything was brought, she sat Isaac down and, sitting down next to him, began to treat him. Isaac, blinded by the unprecedented luxury of the decoration of the hall and listening to the enchanting voice of the beautiful princess, completely forgot about the king’s instructions and obediently answered the princess’s questions.
The girl quietly took the letter from Isaac's hands, broke the seal and read it. The letter said:
“I order the commander of the fortress to immediately execute the bearer of this note.”
Having read these menacing words, the princess quietly tore up the letter and, continuing to treat and question, wrote another, sealed it and slowly put it into the hands of the young man. After this, the princess herself reminded Isaac that he must hurry to carry out the royal will.
The young man warmly thanked the princess for the treat and warm welcome and immediately set off on his way. Arriving at the fortress, he asked the guards to take him to the pasha, the commander of the fortress, since he came with a letter from the king himself. The guards immediately brought Isaac to the pasha. Taking the letter, Pasha read:
“As soon as a young man arrives with a letter, immediately gather an army and go to the palace to marry this young man to my daughter.”
Pasha immediately gave the order for the army to march to accompany the princess’s groom to the palace. The stunned Isaac could not believe his eyes, seeing what was happening around him, he mechanically mounted the horse that had been brought for him and rode at the head of the army to the royal palace, where by the time of his arrival everything was already prepared for the wedding ceremony. All this happened so unusually quickly and unexpectedly that when Isaac was congratulated, he still could not recover from amazement.
At this time, the king was returning from a walk to the palace and on the way stopped at the fortress to inquire whether his order had been carried out accurately. To the king’s question, the pasha answered:
- How can you doubt, sir?! Your command has been fulfilled, and I can only congratulate you on your wonderful son-in-law!
The amazed king could not understand which son-in-law the pasha was talking about, and demanded his letter from him. After reading it, the king could only whisper: “Apparently, this is the will of Allah, and I must submit to it!” - and silently left the fortress.
Over time, the king not only came to terms with the idea of his daughter’s marriage, but even sincerely became attached and loved his son-in-law with all his soul, recognizing him as a gifted and intelligent person, and brought him so close to himself that he even appointed him to the post of royal adviser, in order to subsequently entrust him with the management of the entire kingdom.
One day Isaac went out to rest at sunset on a hillock rising in front of the palace, and somehow involuntarily looked back and saw the queen, his wife’s mother, on the balcony. The queen, looking at Isaac, laughed defiantly, and then, with an appearance of embarrassment, disappeared into the palace.
– How cleverly she pretends, however! She definitely wants to prove to me that she has never seen any man other than her husband! – Isaac said loudly.
These words were literally conveyed to the queen by one of the courtiers who was watching Isaac.
The offended queen reported this to the king and asked him to force his son-in-law to explain on what he based such an accusation, and let him prove that she was exactly what he thought of her. Isaac, who was called, was not at all embarrassed, but boldly turned to the king and said to him:
“Sir, order your wife to give me all her keys!”
No matter how unpleasant this was for the queen, she did not dare to disobey the will of the king and gave away all the keys that were with her.
“And now, sir,” said Isaac, “let me search the chambers on your wife’s half.”
The king agreed to this too. Then Isaac, accompanied by the king and his entire retinue, began to search the rooms of the palace, and in one of the distant chambers seven enormous chests with small openings were found. When they started opening the chests, they found a man in them.
“Now you see for yourself, sir, that if I brought charges against your wife, then I had strong evidence for this.” Let me wash away this insult from you. – And, without waiting for the king’s permission, Isaac cut off the heads of all seven men with a sword and thereby justified the words written on the skull found by Effendi Hasan.
After this, the queen was executed, and when the king died, Isaac was proclaimed sovereign in his place.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru