Once upon a time there lived a mighty Shah. He built many fortresses and towers on the border of his possessions. Each fortress was built by a new master, and then the Shah killed him, because he was afraid that the secrets of his fortifications would be discovered by his enemies. He ordered one master to be thrown from the tower and spread a rumor that he himself had fallen. About another he said that a stone had fallen on his head. In a word, the Shah killed all the craftsmen in his lands, and one fine day, when he decided to build another tower, the servants could not find a single master. In those days, there lived on Isfahan land a famous mason named Usta Abdullah. The news also reached him that the Shah wanted to build a tower. He thought and thought, called his wife and told her:
“I heard that the Shah killed all his craftsmen, and now he is looking for a mason during the day.” I'll go see him. Allah will help me, I will get along with him. Then wait for me, I will return with wealth. And if I’m unlucky and I can’t handle the matter myself, I’ll send you to you. You'll know what to do.
He collected his equipment and hit the road. He walked for a day and stood there for two, sometimes in a detour, sometimes straight ahead, a day is a road, a rest is a moment, through valleys, along rapids, he walked and walked and reached the possessions of the Shah.
Came to the palace. The servants caught him and took him to the Shah. The chief guard stepped forward and said:
— This man does not look like a resident of our city. In addition, he walked and looked into all the doors.
The Shah got angry and asked menacingly:
- Who are you? Why did you come to my lands? Usta Abdullah humbly replied:
- I am the mouth of Abdullah from Isfahan. I'm looking for a job. Maybe someone needs to build a house...
The Shah immediately changed his anger to mercy and asked with curiosity:
-Can you build a tower?
- Can. And not simple, but magical,” replied the mouth.
The Shah immediately ordered to give him everything he needed for the construction, and to allocate as many people as the master required.
And Abdullah's mouth began to work. And after some time, a tower arose on the border of the Shah’s possessions, which had no equal in the whole world. The master made eighty-eight doors in it and on each he carved an inscription about some vice of the Shah, which he gradually studied. However, no one knew how to open these doors.
As soon as the tower was ready, Abdullah came to the Shah:
- O great and mighty Shah! I carried out your order. Now reward me and I will go home. The Shah laughed.
“If I started paying every master, there wouldn’t be a penny left in my treasury long ago.” And why do you need money? How do you know what awaits you tomorrow, will you be alive?
And he winked at the vizier, saying, send this daring mason after the others. The vizier, in turn, made a sign to the guards, and they immediately jumped up, grabbed Abdullah and dragged him to the door. The master realized that he had only a few minutes left to live, and, turning to the Shah, said:
- May Allah prolong your life, O great and mighty Shah, don’t you know that in the tower that I built, all the underground passages are enchanted. And their secret is unknown to anyone except me. And you didn’t even ask how and with what to open eighty-eight doors...
The Shah realized that Usta Abdullah had set a trap for him and, having killed the master, he would not know anything, and therefore ordered the servants to let him go.
“Let’s go, mouth Abdullah, let’s talk in private, only you will initiate me into this secret.” But Mouth shook his head:
- Great Shah, each door has its own key, there are eighty-eight in total. No master in the world will make you such keys for any money. I'm the only one who has them, but I left them at home. Send someone to Isfahan, let them take the keys from my wife and bring them to you.
The Shah had no choice. He called a messenger and ordered him to go to Isfahan.
He put his hand to his eyes, saying, I listen and obey, and only asked:
- How will I find the right house? To this, Abdullah replied:
“As soon as you come to Isfahan, you will see a palace made of white marble. You won't find a more beautiful place anywhere. This is my home. And if you want, ask anyone where Usta Abdullah lives, they will show you.
The messenger mounted the best horse from the Shah's stable and set off on his journey. Finally the gates of Isfahan appeared ahead. He rode into the city on horseback and immediately saw a palace made of white marble. He turned his horse straight towards the palace. And when I got closer, I became convinced that there really was no such beauty and that such beauty had never existed anywhere. An old woman was sitting at the door. The messenger asked her:
“Is it true that Usta Abdullah lives here?”
“Yes, son,” answered the old woman, “this is the house of the mouth of Abdullah.”
At this time, a woman looked out of the window. It was the master's wife. Having learned that the rider was the Shah's messenger, she led him into the house and ordered the horse to be led to the stable. The guest climbed forty steps and walked through twelve rooms. Finally, in front of door number thirteen, the woman said:
- Oh dear guest, come here and wait for me. I'll be back soon to find out how I can serve you. The messenger opened the door wide. But as soon as he crossed the threshold, he immediately fell into a dungeon. This room had no floor. Instead of boards, there were ropes, and a carpet lay on them. When someone stood on the carpet, the ropes parted and the person fell onto the stone floor of the dungeon. The Shah's messenger did not wake up soon. His arms and legs were bruised. He could neither stand up nor sit down. And even if he could, he still wouldn’t do it, because two daredevils with huge clubs stood over him. These would be the sons of Abdullah's mouth. Seeing that the prisoner had come to his senses, they asked menacingly:
- Who are you, stranger? And why did you come to us?
With difficulty moving his tongue, the messenger replied that Abdullah himself had sent him for the keys. The guys immediately realized that their father was in danger and he specifically sent this man to let them know about his plight.
“Tell you what,” they said, “you won’t get out of here.” Now choose: either we kill you, or do what you know. What can you do?
The messenger humbly replied:
- Just spin the threads. Nothing more. But my hands hurt...
- It’s okay, we’ll cure you!
They left, and a guard came to the prisoner and brought some kind of potion, from which all the wounds healed immediately. At the same hour, seventy-seven chuvals of wool were brought into the dungeon. And the messenger began to spin yarn from morning to night. Let’s leave him to this task and see for ourselves what happened to Abdullah’s mouth.
The Shah waited ten days, waited fifteen, and saw that there was no word from the messenger. He called the vizier:
— Wise vizier, what could this mean? Where did the messenger go?
The vizier thought and said:
- May Allah prolong your life, my great Shah, apparently, trouble has befallen him. There is no other way out, I have to go there myself.
The Shah liked this proposal.
“You’re right, my vizier, go yourself.” Firstly, you will bring the keys, and secondly, you will find out what happened to our messenger.
That same day, the vizier saddled the fastest horse and set off.
I drove for a long time, God knows how long, thump thump - through the flood, passed the forest - the whole conversation. Finally I reached the house of Abdullah's mouth. The master's wife did the same with him as with the messenger. The vizier also fell into the dungeon, also hurt himself, and when he came to his senses, he opened his eyes and saw that two hefty guys with clubs were standing over him. Before the vizier had time to open his mouth, one of the guys said:
- We know why you came here. You also know that you can’t get out of here. Better tell me what you can do.
The vizier muttered in a slurred voice that he knew how to dye wool. At that same moment they rubbed him with a potion, dragged a large clay jug into the dungeon, and the vizier began to dye the threads that the messenger was spinning in another corner.
Let us now leave both of them to this work and see what the Shah does. He waited a long time for his vizier, but he did not come. I decided to go to the master’s wife myself. He took some food in the khurjun, tied a wineskin to the saddle, jumped on his horse and rode off. For seven days and seven nights he rode without respite, and finally reached Isfahan.
The wife of the mouth of Abdullah did the same with him as with the messenger and the vizier. Like them, the Shah fell into the dungeon and was injured. And when I woke up, I looked around and saw that the messenger and the vizier were also sitting here. One spins woolen threads, the other dyes them. And the sons of the mason asked again:
- Tell me, what can you do?
- Weave carpets.
They immediately brought him a loom and he began weaving a carpet. Let us now leave the Shah, the vizier and the messenger and see what the mouth of Abdullah is doing.
And Abdullah saw that there was no word from the Shah, and he realized that his wife had thrown everyone into the dungeon. He found a horse and headed straight home to Isfahan. He hugged his wife and sons, asked about everything and went down into the dungeon. He sees that work is in full swing here. One spins, another dyes, and the third - the Shah himself - weaves a carpet. Abdullah saw the lips with which they were working, he laughed and said:
- How nice it is to see you at work, oh great Shah! You've never done anything in your life. The Shah looked at the master:
- What have you done to us, mouth?
- Oh Shah, why are you surprised? Something happened to you that you usually did to others. You were too harsh, now look what your victims experienced.
- What will happen to us next? - the Shah asked in fear. Abdullah pointed to a piece of paper and ordered:
- Take pen and paper and write to your treasurer, let him take money from the treasury, take it to the wives of the masters you killed and give it back twice what you had to pay them. If you don’t write, you’ll stay here for the rest of your life.
The Shah obediently did everything as the mason ordered. He found a messenger and sent it to the treasurer. Then they tied the Shah, the vizier and the messenger hand and foot, and took them to the roof. In the very center of the roof stood a tower, so high that if you looked at the top of it, your hat would fall off your head. They took the prisoners upstairs. The Shah looked down and felt dizzy. And he began to beg not to be thrown down.
—Did you throw innocent craftsmen from the tower yourself? - Abdullah asked his mouth.
The Shah did not answer; his soul sank from fear. But the mason was inexorable:
“Oh, Shah, I would free you, but I’m afraid you will turn out to be dishonest.” Give your word that you will never destroy anyone again.
The Shah fell at the feet of Abdullah and swore that he would never touch anyone in his life. He took pity on his lips, untied his hands, freed the vizier and the messenger too, and said that if he ever heard about their cruelty, they would not escape execution.
From that day on, the Shah did not kill anyone, did not punish anyone, was a good ruler, and lived out his days quietly and peacefully.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru