The Servant's Journey: A Tale of Kindness and Reward

A long time ago, there was a wise king, known throughout the land for his knowledge. It seemed like nothing was hidden from him as if he had magical ways of learning secrets. He had a strange habit: every day after dinner, when the table was cleared and no one else was around, a trusted servant would bring him a special dish. This dish was covered, and even the servant didn’t know what was inside because the king only opened it when he was completely alone.

This went on for a long time, until one day, the servant’s curiosity got the best of him. He took the dish into his room, locked the door, and lifted the cover. To his surprise, he saw a white snake lying on the dish. The servant was curious and couldn’t resist the urge to taste it. He cut off a small piece and ate it. As soon as the snake touched his tongue, he began to hear whispers outside his window. When he listened closely, he realized it was the sparrows talking to each other! By eating the snake, he had gained the ability to understand the language of animals.

On the same day, the queen lost her most beautiful ring, and suspicion fell on the servant because he was trusted to go everywhere in the palace. The king was furious and demanded the servant find the thief by the next day, or else he would be considered guilty and executed. The servant, though innocent, had no way to prove it and was very afraid.

In his worry, he went out into the courtyard and sat down by a stream. There, he saw some ducks resting by the water, chatting as they cleaned their feathers. The servant listened carefully and heard one duck say, “Oh no! Something feels heavy in my stomach. I swallowed a ring that was lying under the queen’s window while I was eating quickly.” Hearing this, the servant grabbed the duck, took it to the kitchen, and asked the cook to kill it. When the duck was prepared for cooking, the queen’s lost ring was found inside its stomach.

The servant quickly proved his innocence, and the king, feeling sorry for wrongly accusing him, allowed him to ask for any reward he wanted. The servant didn’t ask for much—just a horse and some money so he could travel and see the world.

As he traveled, he came across a pond where three fish were trapped in the reeds and struggling to breathe. Although fish are known to be silent, the servant heard them complaining about their terrible situation. Feeling sorry for them, he got off his horse and set them free. The fish, grateful for his kindness, told him they would remember and repay him one day.

He continued his journey and soon heard a voice coming from the ground. It was the ant-king, complaining that the servant’s horse had trampled his tiny people. The servant, being kind, carefully led his horse away from the ants’ path. The ant-king thanked him and promised to repay his kindness.

As the servant walked through a forest, he saw two ravens pushing their young chicks out of the nest, telling them to find their own food. The poor baby ravens couldn’t fly yet and were crying out in hunger. The servant, filled with compassion, killed his horse and fed it to the ravens. The young birds thanked him, promising to repay him someday.

Now without a horse, the servant had to continue his journey on foot. Eventually, he came to a city where there was a lot of excitement. The king’s daughter, a beautiful princess, was looking for a husband, but there was a catch. Any man who wanted to marry her had to complete a difficult task, and if he failed, he would lose his life. Many men had tried and failed, but when the servant saw the princess, he was so taken by her beauty that he decided to try.

The first task was to retrieve a gold ring that had been thrown into the sea. The servant stood by the shore, not knowing what to do. But just then, the three fish he had saved swam up to him, bringing a mussel in which the gold ring was hidden. The servant took the ring to the king, but the princess, proud of her royal status, refused to marry him and gave him another task.

She scattered ten sacks of tiny millet seeds all over the grass in the garden and told the servant to pick them all up by morning. The task seemed impossible, and the servant was sure he would fail. But when he woke up the next day, he saw that the ants he had saved had gathered all the seeds into the sacks for him. The princess, though surprised, still wasn’t satisfied and gave him one final task. This time, she asked him to bring her an apple from the Tree of life.

The servant didn’t know where the tree was but set off to find it anyway. After a long journey, he lay down to rest under a tree, when suddenly a golden apple fell into his hand. The three ravens he had saved earlier had flown to the ends of the world to find the apple for him. Overjoyed, the servant returned to the princess with the apple.

Having no more tasks left to give him, the princess finally accepted the servant. They shared the apple of life, and her heart filled with love for him. They married and lived happily ever after.