Islamic stories

The Wife of Khusru and the Fishermen

It was related that the king Khusru Bin Burwiz used to love eating fish. One day, he was sitting down with his wife Shirin, when a fisherman came with a huge fish which he presented to the king as a gift. So impressed was the king by the size of the catch that he gave a reward of 4000 dirhams to the fisherman.

When the fisherman had left, Shirin expressed her strong disapproval of her husband's action. When he asked her why she disapproved, she said, "If you give one of your close followers a similar amount - which is a considerable sum - he will complain and say, "You have given me the same amount of money that you gave to a fisherman."

Khusru said, " What you have said is true but it is not befitting for a king to take back a gift. Besides, it is too late now."

"I have a sensible plan to get back the money," said Shirin.

"What is it?" asked Khusru.

"First, call the fisherman back," said Shirin. "Then ask him whether the fish is a male or a female. If he says it is a male fish, say it is a female fish. And if he says it is a female fish, say that you had really wanted a male fish."

The fisherman was summoned, and when he returned, he knew something was up. He was both intelligent and quick-witted, and he quickly perceived that they were going to somehow ask for the money back; perhaps he knew something about the nature of the king's wife, perhaps the fact that she was not as generous as the king was.

The king then asked him, "Regarding the fish you gave me, is it a male or a female?"

"Neither, it is bisexual," said the fisherman. The king laughed realizing that the fisherman knew the purpose behind that question. Feeling that the fisherman deserved an extra reward for the quick wit, the king game him 4000 more dirhams. As the fisherman was walking away with a bag full of 8000 dirhams, a single dirham fell from his bag and landed on the ground. Removing the bag from his shoulder, he knelt down to the ground and picked up the dirham and as he did so, the king and queen were staring at him.

Shirin said, "Did you see the baseness of that man! A single dirham fell from his bag and in order to retrieve it, he put down his other 7999 dirhams down and knelt to the ground in order to pick it up. Could he not have just left it there, so that one of the servants could pick it up and use it for his benefit?"

"You have spoken the truth, O Shirin," said the king. He then summoned the fisherman back to him and said, " Have you no dignity! It is with difficulty that you placed the heavy bag of money down onto the ground and you did so only that you pick up the single dirham. Could you not have left it in its place?"

"May Allah give you a long life, O king," said the fisherman, with a look of cunning that he hid very well. " I did not puck it up this dirham because it was important to me; rather, I picked it up from the ground because on one side of it is your picture, and on the other side your name is written. And I feared that someone would come and inadvertently step on it, which would tantamount to your name being debased. I feared that if that were to happened, I would be the cause of the tragedy and crime."

Again, the king was impressed by his words and again he gave his another 4000 dirhams. The fisherman took his leave for the last time, taking with him 12,000 dirhams. And the king then made the following announcement to his people: No one should act based on the opinion of a woman, for it one does so, he will lose his dirhams.