There was a young man in Persia who inherited a large amount of wealth from his father. But he wasted everything and became so poor that he had to get himself hired. A Sheikh came to the market and hired the young man. Sheikh said he would live a comfortable life in his house and look after the ten sheikhs who lived there. However, he laid down one condition: if he saw the sheikhs weeping, he must never ask the reason for it. The young man agreed and went to the Sheikh’s house. It was a grand mansion, with beautiful decorations and gardens. He was fed and clothed and given a chest with thirty thousand pieces of gold to look after the ten sheikhs. One by one, the sad sheikhs died and were buried. Before his master died, he had told the young man to live there but never open that door to which he pointed.
The Sad Man
The young man was curious and opened the door. He entered a beautiful garden where an eagle swooped down and carried him off to an island across the sea. He was taken in a ship to a land where an army met him and took him to meet the Queen of that land. She was beautiful and all her soldiers and ministers were women. She married the young man and made him King. But she pointed to a door and said that he must never open that. He agreed and lived happily for seven years. One day, however, he became curious and opened the door! He found the eagle there and it picked him up and carried him back to the mansion of the ten sheikhs! He had no way of going back and realised that the sheikhs must have been through the same experience. He lost that beautiful life and never laughed again!
