The Wise Weaver

Once, when the king was sitting on his throne, a traveler from distant lands came to him, drew a line around the throne, and silently stood aside.

The king understood nothing of this. He summoned his close advisors, but they too could not comprehend it. For the king, it was a great shame that in all his kingdom, there was no one who could decipher what this meant. He issued a strict order that he would execute all the wise men of his land if they did not solve this riddle.

The king's close advisors, who were searching for a wise man who could unravel this mystery, happened upon a house. Entering it, they saw a cradle in the room, rocking by itself, though there was no one around. They went into another room, where there was also a cradle, rocking on its own, though again, there were no people. They climbed onto the roof of the house and found washed wheat spread out there, and next to it, a reed stuck in the ground was swaying and scaring away birds to prevent them from pecking at the wheat, even though there was no wind.

The king's men were astonished. Descending to the lower room, they saw a weaver working at his loom. This weaver had tied one thread to the warp, another to the weft, and a third to the heddle. As he wove, the threads moved and rocked both cradles and the reed on the roof.

"What a master, no less than a sage!" they exclaimed.

The king's men told the weaver about how a stranger had drawn a line around the king's throne and how no one could figure out what he meant by it, and then they invited him to go and solve this mystery.

"If you solve it, you will receive great gifts from the king," they added.

The weaver pondered, took two knucklebones and a chicken, and went with them to the king. Arriving at the palace and seeing the stranger, the weaver threw the two knucklebones in front of him. At the sight of this, the stranger took a handful of millet from his pocket and scattered it on the ground. The weaver then released the chicken, which quickly began pecking at the millet. After this, the stranger immediately put on his bast shoes and left.

"What did the stranger mean?" they asked the weaver. "This stranger wanted to tell our king that his king is planning to come and lay siege to our land, and he wanted to know whether our king intends to submit to him or meet him with an army. I threw the knucklebones in front of him—meaning, you are but children before us, better play knucklebones at home and stop thinking of war with us. The stranger scattered the millet to show that their army is countless. But by releasing the chicken, I replied that one of our warriors will defeat their entire army."

The king honored the weaver greatly, richly rewarded him, and wanted to appoint him as a vizier, but the weaver declined. For his service, he took very little and, bidding farewell, said to the king:

"I would only wish, O king, for you to know that among your servants, there are people wiser than your viziers, and from now on, may you consider weavers and bast-shoe makers as people worthy of respect."

↑ To the top

The Wise Weaver

More fairy tales