The Magician and The Sultan’s Son

12 Dec The Magician and The Sultan’s Son

The Magician and The Sultan’s Son

The Magician And The Sultan’s Son

Once upon a time, there lived a Sultan who had three sons. These three sons didn’t know a thing, and no one was able to teach them. This situation grieved the Sultan and his wife very much. One day, a magician came to the Sultan and said, “what will you give me if I take these sons of yours and teach them to read and write and make them great scholars?”

The Sultan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. No one has ever been able to teach his sons to read and write, but he had to take a chance on the magician. “Okay, I will give you half of my property,” the Sultan said.

“No, that won’t do.” Said the magician.

“Okay, how about half of the country I own?”

“No, that is still not enough.” The magician stated.

At this point, the Sultan sighed. “Okay, what then do you want?”

“If I am able to teach your three sons how to read and write and also make scholars of them when I return, you will take two sons and give one of them to me.”

The Sultan thought for a long time. He didn’t even believe that the magician could do all that he claimed. He had taken his sons to the best magicians in the world, yet no one could teach them how to read and write. “Okay, fine. If you can make scholars out of my sons, I will give one to you,” he agreed.

So, the magician took Sultan’s three sons away, and within a short time, he taught them how to read and write. He also successfully made scholars of them. When he saw there was no more work to be done, he took the sons back to the Sultan. 

“Sultan,” he said, “here are your sons. I have successfully made them scholars, as I promised.”

The Sultan was amazed. He couldn’t believe his eyes and ears. His sons were speaking so elegantly. Then he remembered the promise he made to the magician, so he chose a son and handed him to the magician, and the other two stayed with him. The son that the Sultan gave to the magician was called Keejan.

The magician took Keejan to a large house where he lived.

When they arrived, the magician gave Keejan the key to the house and told him, “open whatever you want to! I am your father. I will be going away for some time, this is why I have given you these keys and told you to open whatever you want to.”

Immediately he left, Keejan took the keys and began opening the doors as he was instructed. He first opened a door and saw a room filled with liquid gold. Out of surprise, he deep his hand into the gold, but when he tried to clean it, the gold wouldn’t come off. He then wrapped a rag around it. 

When the magician came home and saw his hand wrapped in a rag, he asked him what happened. Keejan said that he had cut it.

After this incident, the magician left again, and Keejan continued his investigation. He took the key and opened a different room. 

In the room, he saw lots of bones. Some of the bones were that of goats, some chickens, some sheep, some horses, some oxen, and some held human boys. Keejan was so scared, but still, he went ahead and opened the third door. In that room, he saw a horse.

“Hullo, you son of Adam, where do you come from?” asked the horse.

“This is my father’s house.”

“Oh really? If he is truly your father, then you are in grave danger. Do you know that your father occupies himself with eating humans, donkeys, sheep, oxen, and every other living thing he can get his hands on? At last, you and I are the only living thing remaining.”

This put so much fear in the heart of the young boy, and he asked. “So what do we do now?”

“What is your name?”

“I am Keejan.”

“Hello Keejan, I am Faarsen. First, come and unfasten me.” 

Keejan did this immediately. “Now you will open the door to the room that holds the gold. I will swallow up the gold and go wait for you under a tree. When your father comes home, he will say to you, “let’s get some firewood,” to which you will reply, “I don’t know how to do that work.” That way, he will be forced to get the firewood alone. When he comes back, he will place a great pot on the hook and ask you to make fire under it. Again you will tell him that you don’t know how to do that, and he will do it himself. Then he will bring a big butter, and while it is getting hot, he will put it on the swing and tell you, “get up there, and I will swing you,” to which you will respond that you have never done it before and that he should do it and show you how it is done. When he does this, you will push him into the big pot, and then run away and meet me.” After saying all this, the horse ran away.

Keejan waited for the magician to come back. When he returned, he told Keejan to fetch some firewood, to which Keejan replied that he can’t do that. So the magician went and did it himself.

After, he set a huge pot on the firewood and told Keejan to make a fire. Keejan also responded that he doesn’t know how to make a fire. So the magician did it by himself.

Then, he told Keejan, “put all the butter in the pot” and Keejan responded. “It’s too heavy, and I can’t lift it.” So the magician put the butter into the pot. 

Then the magician climbed the table and told Keejan, “come up here so that I can teach you how to play our county’s game.”

“Why don’t you teach me while I sit and watch?” Keejan replied.

So the magician took a swing, and before he could succeed, Keejan pushed him into the big pot that contained hot butter, and the magician melted inside the butter. Keejan then ran to meet the horse under the tree. 

When the horse saw him approaching, he bellowed, “jump on my back and let’s run away.”

So Keejan jumped on his back, and together, they ran away. 

They were walking for days, trying to find a land that was good, where they can settle. Finally found one. When they got there, the horse coughed up all the gold he swallowed, and they acquired slaves, cattle, and land for themselves.

Soon the news spread of the new man and his horse and all the riches they have accumulated. This news soon reached Sultan’s ears, and he invited Keejan and the horse to his house.

“Who are you?” The Sultan asked.

“Oh, I am just a traveller who had decided to stay in your land.”

“Splendid, why don’t you come and work here?”

“I will, but I need someone to show me around.”

“Oh! I will do that,” the Sultan said and showed Keejan around. 

Soon, they became very good friends, and Keejan eventually married Sultan’s daughter. Together with the horse, they lived happily ever after.

Moral Lesson

Never be scared to try out new things.

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