Wit, Courage, and a Foolish Husband

A very rich merchant in the Kashmir valley had a very stupid and ignorant son. He engaged the best teachers in the land for him, yet the fellow learned nothing. He was too idle, too careless, too thick-headed to profit by any instruction. He lolled away his time instead. His father gradually lost hope and began to despise him, though his mother was always making excuses for him.

When the lad had reached a marriageable age, his mother begged the merchant to seek out a suitable bride for him. The merchant, however, was too ashamed and troubled to say or do anything about his stupid son, and had made up his mind never to get him married.

But the mother had set her heart on it. Not to have a son married would be a disgrace; it would also be against their custom and religion. So she urged other excuses on his behalf and spoke of how she had noticed now and again extraordinary traits of wisdom and wit in her son. This sort of talk only infuriated the merchant. He finally said to her one day, 'Look here, I've heard this many times before, and it's a lot of foolishness. Mothers are blind. But I'll give the fool another chance. Send for him and give him these three pansas. Tell him to go to the bazaar and buy something for himself with one pansa, to throw another pansa into the river, and with the remaining pansa to get at least five things something to eat, something to drink, something to gnaw, something to sow in the garden, and some food for the cow.'

The woman did so, and the boy took the three small copper coins and left.

He went to the bazaar and bought a pansa's worth of something to eat that was easy. He then came to the river, and was on the point of throwing a pansa into the water when he suddenly realized the absurdity of the whole thing and stopped himself. "What's the good of doing this?' he said aloud. 'If I throw the pansa into the river I'll have only one left. What can I buy with one panso-to eat and drink and all the other things Mother asks for? And yet if I do not throw this pansa away, I'll be acting disobediently.

In the midst of this soliloquy, the daughter of an ironsmith came up, and noticing his distress, asked him what the matter was.

He told her all that his mother had asked him to do and that he thought it would be extremely stupid to obey. But what was he to do? He didn't wish to disobey his mother either.

'I'll tell you what to do,' she said. 'Go and buy a watermelon with one pansa, and keep the other in your pocket. Do not throw it into the river. The watermelon contains all the five things you need. Get one and give it to your mother, and she'll be pleased.'

The boy did so.

The merchant's wife saw how clever her son was and she was glad. 'Look, 'she said to her husband as soon as he came in, 'this is our son's work. Don't you think he's terribly clever?'

When he saw the watermelon, the merchant was surprised, and said, 'I don't believe that our son has done this on his own. He would never have had the good sense. Someone has been advising him.' And then turning to the boy, he asked, 'Who told you to do this?"

The lad replied, "The daughter of an ironsmith.'

You see,' said the merchant, 'I knew this was not the work of that stupid fellow. On second thought, let him get married. If you agree and he also wishes it, he can marry this ironsmith's daughter who has shown some interest in him and seems to be so very clever.'

"Yes, yes,' replied the wife quickly, 'nothing could be better.'

When the merchant visited the ironsmith's hut and saw the young woman who had helped his son, he told her, 'I've come to see your parents.'

She replied, 'My father has gone to buy a ruby for a cowrie, and my mother has gone to sell some words. But they'll be here soon, Please take a seat.'

'All right, I'll wait,' said the merchant, much perplexed by the young woman's words. 'Where did you say your parents had gone?'

'My father has gone to get a cowrie's worth of ruby, that is, he has gone to buy some oil for the lamp. My mother has gone to sell a few words, that is, she has gone to try and arrange a marriage for somebody.'

The merchant was struck by the young woman's cleverness, but he said nothing

busting από το

Soon after, the ironsmith and his wife returned home. They were astonished to see the great and rich merchant in their little hut. They gave him a most respectful salaam, and asked humbly, "Why have you honored our house with your visit?'

He told them he wanted his son to marry their daughter. They were surprised but readily accepted the offer. A day was fixed for the wedding.

The wind carried the news everywhere, and people began to talk about the way the big merchant was getting his son married to a lowborn ironsmith's daughter. Some busybodies talked to the son and tried to prejudice him against the young woman. They advised him to warn her father that if he continued to sanction the wedding, and if the marriage really took place, he would beat the girl seven times a day with his shoe. They thought this would scare the ironsmith and he would break off the engagement. They added, Even if he is not scared off and the marriage is celebrated, it will still be a good thing to treat your wife like this. In this way she will learn obedience and never give you any trouble.'

The stupid fellow thought this was a splendid plan, and he did go to the ironsmith and behaved exactly as he was told.

The ironsmith, of course, was quite disturbed by this threat He called his daughter and told her what the merchant's son had said, and begged her to have nothing to do with the man. 'It better never to be married,' he said, 'than to be married to a man who'll treat you like a horse thief'.

The daughter comforted her father. She said, 'Don't worry on my account, Father. Obviously, some wicked people have influenced the young man to come and talk to you like this. I won't let it happen. There's always a gap between what a man says he'l do and what he actually does. Don't be afraid. What he says will never come to pass.'

On the appointed day, the marriage was celebrated. During the nuptial night, the bridegroom got up at midnight. Thinking that his bride was fast asleep, he picked up a shoe and was about to beat her with it, when she opened her eyes. 'Don't do that' she said. "It's a bad omen to quarrel on one's wedding day. If you still feel like beating me tomorrow, you can do it. But let's not quarrel today. The bridegroom found that reasonable, but when on the following night he again lifted his shoe to strike her, she said, 'Don't you know it's a bad omen for a husband and wife to disagree during the first week of their marriage? I know you are a wise man and you'll listen to me. Postpone this till the eighth day and then you can beat me all you like.' The man agreed, and flung his shoe aside. On the seventh day, the young woman returned to her father's house, according to the custom of all Muslim brides. 

'Aha!' said the man's friends when they met him. 'So she has got the better of you. What a fool you are! We knew it would be like this.' Meanwhile the merchant's wife had plans for her son. She thought it was time he became independent. Therefore she said to her husband, 'Give him some merchandise and let him travel and gain experience.'

'Never, the merchant said. "To put money into his hands is like throwing it into the river. He will lose it in no time.

'Never mind,' insisted his wife. 'He will learn wisdom only this way. Give him some money, and let him visit other countries. If he makes money, he'll learn to value it. If he loses it and becomes a beggar, we may hope that he will value it when he gets it again. Either way, he will profit. Without such experience, he'll never be fit for anything.

The merchant was persuaded. So he gave his son some money and some goods and servants, asked him to be careful, and sent him away. The young merchant set out with all his goods and a great troop of servants. The caravan had not gone very far into the next country when they passed a large garden surrounded by thick high walls. The young merchant wanted to know what kind of a place it was and sent out servants to go and see what was inside. They went and came back and told him that they had seen a grand building in the middle of a beautiful garden. Then the young man himself went in and entered the mansion. There he was greeted by a lovely woman who invited him in to play a game of nard, a game played with counters. The woman was an expert gambler. She knew every kind of trick to get her opponent's money. One of her favorite tricks was this: while playing, she kept a cat by her side. She had taught the cat to brush against the lamp at a given signal and put out the light. She always gave the sign when the game was going against her. In this and other ways, she had amassed immense wealth. Now she practised the cat-trick on the young merchant, who lost time after time. He lost everything-his money, his merchandise, his servants, himself. And then, when he had nothing left, he was thrown into prison. There he was treated harshly and given little food. Often he lifted his voice and prayed to God to take him out of this world of troubles.

One day he saw a man pass by the prison gate. He called him and asked from where he had come. When the man told him that he came from such-and-such a country, the young merchant knew that the stranger had come from his own father's place.

'That's good,' said the prisoner. 'Will you please do me a great favor? You see I am shut up in this place. I cannot get free until I've paid my debts. Will you please take these two letters, one to my father and the other to my wife? If you'll do this for me, I'll be

eternally grateful to you, and I'll reward you when I get back. The man consented, and took the two letters when he went.

In one letter the young merchant told his father all that had happened. And in the other, for his wife, he told lies, all about how he had made lots of money and would soon return and beat her with his shoe as he had warned her before the wedding.

Now, the man who took the letters could neither read nor write. He delivered the letter meant for the father to the wife, and the one meant for the wife to the father. The father was very happy to read the letter full of good news. But he couldn't understand why it was addressed to his daughter-in-law and not to him, and why his son threatened her with a beating when he returned. When the daughter-in-law read her husband's letter, she was unhappy to hear of his misfortunes, and wondered why he had sent the letter in her father-in-law's name and not in her own. Rather bewildered, she went to her father-in-law. They were both mystified when they compared the two accounts.

The daughter-in-law, being wise and brave, decided to go and see her husband herself and, if possible, get him out of prison. The old merchant approved and sent her with some money.

The young woman disguised herself as a man and quickly reached the place where the lovely temptress lived. She sent word to her that she was the son of a wealthy merchant, and was soon invited to a game of nard. The so-called merchant's son agreed, and the game was set for that evening. Meanwhile, the so-called merchant's son bribed the woman's servants with gold and loosened their tongues. They told her, in whispers, of the many tricks their mistress played on her opponents during the game, and especially of the cat-trick. That evening, when the young wife arrived at the mansion for the game, she had a little mouse hidden away in a fold of the sleeve of her tunic.

They began to play the game. The so-called merchant's son was quite good at such games and began to win. The wicked gambling woman couldn't take losses for long and made a sign to her cat. When the cat moved towards the lamp, the so-called merchant's son let her mouse run free. Away scurried the mouse, and away went the cat after it, helter-skelter all over the room.

'Shall we get on with the game? said the young woman in disguise. As nothing was now in her way, she won that game and then a second and a third and a fourth, till she had not only got back all that her stupid husband had lost, but the grand house, the wicked woman, and her entire entourage of servants.

After putting all her new-gotten treasure into large boxes and loading them on her horses, she went to the prison and released all the prisoners. Her husband came with others to thank her, but he didn't recognize her in her disguise. She, however, seemed to take special notice of him and asked him if he would like to be her sardar. He was very pleased and agreed at once to become her headman. She gave him some good fresh clothes. When he changed into them, she arranged to put away his old ragged clothes in a separate box and kept it with her. She entrusted him with all the keys of all the boxes except the box that contained his ragged clothes. That she kept with herself. Everything ready, they left, taking the wicked gambling woman along with them.

As they approached their own country, the so-called merchant's son said to her sardar (leader), 'I have to go on a little business of my own. You take all these things with you and go straight to the city and keep them carefully in your house. I know your father and I trust you. If I don't come within twenty days, all these things are yours.'

Then she went by another route to her own home. Her sardar went straight to his home with all the servants and the baggage and the wicked woman. On reaching her own home, the young woman told her father everything and asked him to say nothing of her success to anyone. Then she visited her father-in-law. As soon as her husband saw her, he said, 'Where have you been? Do you remember how many times I have to beat you?' And then he proceeded to take off one of his shoes.

'Oh, stop it!' said his parents. You want to spoil this grand homecoming with such meanness??

His wife said, 'Now I see. I thought you would have gotten some sense into that head of yours after all this suffering. But you haven't. You are the same stupid man you always were. Look here-bring that box to me, that little box. Whose dirty clothes are these? Look at them and remember how the jailers treated you, how they beat you, how little and what bad food they gave you, and what names they called you! Now you tremble. Good! I am the rich merchant's son who set you free. The letter you addressed to your father was brought to me. I read about your troubles and came there disguised as a merchant's son, played with this woman who fooled you, and won back everything you had lost. I even won this woman and all her property as well. There she is. Ask her if she recognizes me.

'Yes, yes,' said the woman.

The merchant's son was speechless. The merchant's wife blessed her daughter-in-law. The merchant, who had kept quiet all this while, spoke now with mounting anger and disappointment in his stupid son. He turned to his wife and said, 'Now do you believe that your son is a fool? Let his wife keep all these goods and jewels in her care. She is too good for him.'