One eastern youth, in a past life a great sage and vizier of the Sultan, obeying karma and not trying to overcome it, abandoned his profitable service, his wife and children and moved away from home. He settled in the desert at the most difficult crossing of the Great Silk Road, near a well, the caretaker and owner of which was an enterprising Sarmatian merchant. For a small fee, he hired him to clean the well and look after the merchants’ camels, who stopped in a caravanserai built from saxaul branches coated with clay for rest and overnight. Having finished his work, he sat down with them and told them parables and stories he had heard from other merchants. He asked, if you liked the story, to leave one to five pebbles under the tree, which were used to press silks spread out for sale into the sand. The travelers willingly did this, and the owner chuckled, counting the gold fees charged for water and lodging, became rich and was thinking of marrying the princess.
But one day the robbers, who were carrying out their deeds displeasing to Allah along the way, attacked the Sarmatian, robbed him, and the walls of the caravanserai were knocked down and the well was covered with sand by the Samum wind, which is not uncommon in the desert. Moaning and tearing his clothes, the Sarmat left on the young man’s only camel in search of another country and another profitable business.
The young man stayed, cleared the well, built a new strong caravanserai from the stones left to him, as well as a palace with stone ponds that did not let water into the sand, went for his wife, children and grandchildren and ended his days in an oasis, in contentment and glory.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru