Once upon a time there was a padishah. His riches were immeasurable, his lands boundless, but he $had no heir to the throne. Only in old age was he given a daughter. The happy father had a lavish feast prepared in honor of her birth, then he summoned the oldest wise men and ordered them to consult their magic books and tell him who his daughter would marry and to whom he would bequeath his kingdom. The wise men leafed through their books and told the padishah that his daughter would marry the tenth son of a poor shepherd who had a birthmark on his left shoulder. The padishah was furious and shouted: "What a disgrace if my only daughter becomes the wife of a poor man! I will not allow that as long as I live." He ordered the wise men to be imprisoned in a high tower. He and his vizier then disguised themselves as dervishes and set off to find the shepherd's son who, according to the wise men's prophecy, was to become his daughter's husband, because he wanted to find him and kill him. Sooner or later they reached a village. At the edge of the village stood an old, crooked hut belonging to a poor shepherd. The vizier said: "O Lord, on our journey we have always stayed with the rich, this time let us stay with a shepherd." The padishah thought about it and agreed. So the two of them rode to the hut as if they were locked away. The shepherd had nine sons, one always smaller than the other. They had been playing outside and saw the two riders coming. The eldest son ran into the house and said, "Father, two dervishes are coming to us." The shepherd stepped to the threshold, bowed to the two riders, helped them off their horses and greeted them: "O dervishes! Guests are messengers of Allah. Come into the house, rest and have a snack."

The padishah and the vizier dismounted and entered the hut. The shepherd was a poor man, he only had one sheep. He slaughtered it and prepared a shish kebab for the guests. The padishah ate it and said: "I have never eaten such delicious food. Tell me, good man, how did you prepare this shish kebab?"

"O dervish, the only thing we shepherds know how to do is make shashlik. This art is passed down from grandfathers to fathers and from fathers to sons. My father taught me how to make a shashlik that even the padishah could eat." Evening came. The shepherd prepared the camp for his guests and everyone went to sleep. When the padishah and the vizier woke up the next morning, the shepherd told them that his tenth son had been born that night. "Show us the baby," asked the padishah. The shepherd brought the baby, unwrapped him and showed him to the guests. The child was healthy and beautiful, with a large birthmark on his shoulder. The shepherd told the guests that an old sorceress had prophesied that the boy would one day marry the padishah's only daughter. The padishah then knew that it was the boy the wise men had spoken of and pondered how he could get rid of him.

In the meantime, the shepherd had prepared breakfast and invited his guests to the table with the words: "Happy is the house that dervishes have visited! Sit down at the table, dear guests." The padishah replied: "Good man, I will not eat your bread until you fulfill my request." The shepherd immediately replied: "O dervish, I have nothing you could need. Eat my food and then we will talk."

"No, good man, until you promise to fulfill my request, I will not touch a morsel." The shepherd thought about it and agreed. The guests tucked in and after the meal, the padishah said: "You promised to fulfill my request."

"Speak, O dervish, what do you want?"

"I am an old man and have no sons. Give me your youngest. You are poor, but he shall have it with me. I'll weigh him up for you with gold."

"Has anyone ever heard of someone giving their biological son to a stranger?"

"You promised to fulfill my request."

The shepherd went out to consult with his wife and she told him, "Since you promised to fulfill the request, give him the son, especially since we don't know how to feed the others. With the gold we can raise all the other children, our youngest has been prophesied a happy fate anyway. Look, there's a birthmark on his shoulder, and that's a lucky sign. Even with strangers, he won't have a bad time." They placed the little one on the pan of one scale and the padishah poured gold coins onto the other until both scales were balanced. The shepherd received the gold, and the padishah took the boy and rode off with his vizier. After they had ridden for a while, they found a carpenter in a village and told him to make a box. The carpenter made the box and they rode on. Sooner or later they reached a river. The padishah put the boy in the box and threw him into the water.

Many years passed. Once the padishah was out hunting. His entourage had stayed behind and he rode alone through the forest. As he rode along, he came to a river where some boys were bathing. The padishah reined in his horse to watch them swim and dive and wait for his entourage. Suddenly he discovered that a young man had a birthmark on his shoulder. The padishah remembered the boy who had been prophesied at birth that he would marry the padishah's only daughter. But he could not believe that it was the same boy, as he had thrown him into the river. The padishah rode up to the young man and asked him: "Tell me, whose son are you?"

"I am the miller's son," the young man replied.

"Come, show me your father's house."

The young man led the padishah to the miller, who immediately came to meet them. "Salam aleikum," greeted the padishah.

"Aleikum salam," replied the miller. He did not know the padishah because the padishah did not wear a precious robe on the hunt. "Be my guest, good man! Guests bring good luck to the house," added the miller. The padishah dismounted his horse and entered the miller's house. After serving him, he asked the landlord: "Tell me, do you have many children?"

"The young man who showed you the way to my house is my only son. Allah sent him to me eighteen years ago. It happened that one day my mill stopped. I looked at the mill wheel and discovered a box stuck in it so that it could not turn. I pulled the box out of the spokes, opened it and found a little boy inside. He became my son."

So that's right, thought the padishah and said: "I am the padishah of this land. I want your son to bring a letter to my vizier in the palace." And the padishah wrote down the words: "As soon as this young man hands you my letter, have him executed. If you do not obey my order, I will have you thrown into the dungeon." The padishah gave the young man the letter and said: "Here you have ten gold coins, go into the city, find my palace and give my letter to the vizier. But don't show it to anyone except my vizier."

The young man took the letter and walked into the city. Once there, he saw a beautiful garden. In that garden, the padishah's only daughter, the most beautiful of the beautiful, used to stroll with her servants. When the young man came to the garden, the Padishah's daughter was walking under the trees. He stood rooted to the spot, for he had never seen a girl of such beauty. He could not get enough of her. Then he remembered the letter and told the girl that he had to go to the padishah's palace. The Padishah's daughter looked into the young man's face and froze, overwhelmed by his beauty.

"What do you want in the padishah's palace?" she finally asked.

"I have a letter to deliver to the vizier."

"Show it to me," she asked. The young man had not forgotten the padishah's strict instructions, but when he learned that he had the padishah's daughter in front of him, he handed her the letter. After she had read it, she thought for a while, asked the young man to wait a little, and in the meantime rewrote the letter. The new content read: "Vizier, take the young man who hands you this letter to the palace, dress him like a man of noble rank and marry him to my daughter. It shall be a wedding like no other before. If you do not carry out my order, I will have you beheaded." The padishah's daughter handed the young man the letter and explained to him how to get to the vizier. When he asked for the vizier in the palace, the guard would not let him pass: "What do you want from the vizier, young man?"

"I have to give him a letter from the padishah."

"Give me the letter, we'll order it ourselves."

Oh no, the padishah has strictly instructed me to give it only to the vizier." The vizier read the letter and immediately ordered the wedding. The shepherd's tenth son was dressed in the most precious clothes and he became even more beautiful than he had been. The wedding lasted seven days and seven nights. A few more days passed and the padishah returned. "Did you carry out my order?" he asked the vizier.

"I have done everything as you asked, O my lord, we have celebrated a wedding the like of which has never been seen before."

"What kind of wedding?"

"The one you ordered in your letter. I married the young man who brought the letter to your daughter." The padishah turned crimson with anger and could do nothing more. He realized that someone had switched his letter and that the shepherd's tenth son was now the husband of his only daughter. So what the wise men had prophesied had come true after all, he thought. What is written in the stars obviously cannot be changed.

So the young man escaped death and found happiness.

Kurdisches Märchen, aus: V. Gazak, Das Buch aus reinem Silber, Düsseldorf 1984, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike ©Mutabor Märchenstiftung