Zakia was a beautiful and clever girl. She lived
with her father. She was so clever that her father always asked her advice. But
once he did not ask her advice, and Zakia was very angry! This was when the king
asked the girl's father to let him marry her. Zakia's father did not tell his
daughter about that and said to the king: "Oh, my King, my daughter will be
very glad to marry you!"
But Zakia was not glad. "No, Father," she said, "no, no! I will
not marry and love a man whom I do not know."
"Oh, my dear daughter," said her father. "If you do not marry
him, he may be very angry! But her is very good and clever. Oh, please, do as I
say!"
At last Zakia said: "All right, I will marry him. But the King must learn a
trade. I will marry him only if he does so. One day he may lose his throne, and
what shall we do then? We shall be poor, we shall die of hunger. Go to the King
and tell him my wish."
Zakia's father went to the king and told him his daughter's wish. And the king
smiled and said: "Your daughter is not only beautiful, but very clever too.
I will be glad to do as she asks. I am sure that we shall be happy
together."
So the king began to learn the trade of a weaver. Soon he could weave a
beautiful handkerchief, and he sent it to Zakia as a present.
"If she likes my present, she will marry me, I am sure," he thought.
Zakia liked the handkerchief and said: "Now, I see that he loves me."
In a month they married and began to live happily. Zakia often helped the king
with her clever advice.
One day the king came to his wife. "I want to know my people," he
said. "How can I learn what they think? How can I learn what they
want?"
Zakia thought for a minute and then said: "My King, if a man wishes to know
another man well, he must live with him, or meet him often. I think you must put
on the same clothes as our people have and meet them in the streets of our
city."
"I like your advice," the king said, and the next day he was walking
along the streets with two of his ministers. Then dinner time came.
"We shall not go home for dinner," the king said. "Let us go to a
cafe where people eat."
So they went to a small cafe in a little street. But when they came into the
room, the floor slipped away beneath their feet, and they found themselves under
the floor. They began to shout, but nobody came to help them.
"A nice welcome for the King! Where are we? And why are we here?" said
the king angrily.
Suddenly they heard a laugh, and they saw the ugly face of an old man above
them.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! In three days I shall kill you, and your meat will make a nice
dish for our cafe. Everybody likes our cafe for its very good dishes! Ha, ha,
ha!" With these words the man went away.
"Let us tell him who we are when he comes back," said one of the
ministers.
"Oh, no," said the king. "If he knows that, he will kill us
today. Give me some time to think."
And he sat down by the wall and thought.
Some hours later the ugly man came back to them.
"Here is some water for you to drink. But I shall not give you any food.
You are fate enough."
Then the king said: "If we must die, we must. But I want to tell you
something. You may get much money for it."
"I like money very much," said the ugly man. "Go on!"
"I am a weaver and the King's wife likes my work very much. I shall weave a
handkerchief, and you will take it to her. You will get more money for it than
for the good dishes in your cafe, I am sure."
The ugly old man brought down a loom and thread, and the king began to work. He
made a beautiful handkerchief for Zakia. The old man took the handkerchief and
went to the king's wife with it. It was not easy to get to her, but at last the
servants let him in.
"I have a very beautiful handkerchief," said the old man to the king's
wife. "Look at it, please. A good weaver made it. Will you buy it?"
Zakia understood at once that the king was in trouble.
"Yes, it is a very beautiful handkerchief," she said. "I like it,
and I will buy it."
Zakia bought the handkerchief, but she told her servants to follow the old man,
and she followed the servants on horseback.
They came to the cafe and went in. Zakia waited in the street. Very soon a fight
began in the cafe. At last the king and his two ministers were free. They came
out of the cafe.
"My dear Zakia," said the king when he saw her. "You have saved
my life. I love you more than anyone in the world!"
Zakia was happy to hear these words, and the king and his wife went home.