Ali was a poor man, but he had married the daughter of a rich landlord. To put it correctly, the gentleman was a rich landlord; had he not fallen into bad days, Ali could not have married his charming daughter.
But Ali’s wife, Lija, was a sensible woman. She adjusted herself to Ali’s lifestyle without murmur. However, she could
not forget only one luxury. That was to enjoy bathing in the public bath known as a hammam.
One day she had just entered the hammam when the keeper of the bath rushed in and announced loudly standing at
the entrance, “Ladies, please leave the pool at once!”
Lija was looking forward to a refreshing bath. She had to get out immediately. She felt deeply insulted. “Why must we leave?” she asked the keeper at the gate.
“The chief court astrologer’s wife is coming for a bath!” replied the keeper curtly.
As Lija and the other women were going out, they saw the proud lady entering the hammam. She did not even care to look at them.
Back at home, Lija told her husband, “Can’t you become an astrologer?”
“What? Astrologer? What do I know of astrology that I should become an astrologer?” said Ali with surprise.
“Something tells me that you can become an astrologer. Why don’t you try? If you don’t, I better go away to my parents —not forever—but for a year!” said Lija.
Ali knew that Lija expressed strange whims at times. He said, “All right, all right. Let me try.”
He collected some old papers and drew on them figures and pictures as he had seen with professional astrologers. Then he went to the hammam and sat on the verandah.
Just then the princess was about to enter the pool. She took off her diamond ring and gave it to one of her maids and
said, “Keep it with you. This is a bit loose for my finger. I cannot risk losing it in the pool.”
There were several holes in the old wall of the hammam. The maid tucked the ring in one of them. She had just combed her hair and some strings of hair were in her hand. She tucked them with the ring so that she could identify the hole.
The princess bathed for a full hour. Her maids were singing and playing hide and seek around the hammam building. When the princess came out of the pool, she asked her maid to return the diamond ring.
Alas, she was a forgetful maid. She scratched her head, but could not remember what she had done with the ring.
“Produce my ring immediately, or I’ll teach you a lesson for being so careless!” shouted the princess in anger.
“O Astrologer, can you tell me where the ring is?” the maid asked Ali in her despair.
Ali cast a blank look at her.
“What do you see?” asked the maid, quite unnerved.
“I see a hole and inside it hair!” Ali, who too was quite unnerved, said. What he said referred to a hole in the maid’s
dupatta and the hair seen through it.
The maid at once remembered the hole where the ring lay. She was overjoyed. She told the princess about the astrologer’s feat. The princess gave him a handsome reward and went home.
“Good heavens! What a windfall!” mused Ali. He had just stepped into his house and had handed over the reward to
Lija when the king’s messenger called on him. “You are summoned by His Majesty the King,” he said.
His heart beating rapidly, Ali presented himself before the king. “We are amazed at your knowledge of astrology. You are appointed as one of our court astrologers!” said the king.
There was no question of Ali turning down the king’s offer. He shifted to a big mansion.
Lija was happy, but Ali lost the peace of his mind. What will happen if he is asked to prove his knowledge again?
His fear became true. A burglary took place in the palace. The king first asked the chief astrologer to trace the stolen property—jarfuls of gold. But the clever astrologer said, “My lord, I am always at your service. Why not test the new astrologer?”
“That’s a good idea. Ali! Find out the stolen property!” said the king.
Ali saw dark. But he must say something. “My lord,” he said, “I need ten days to do the needful.”
“That’s all right,” said the king.
Ali was looking like a man about to be hanged when he reached home, “Now, your zeal for making an astrologer out of your foolish husband is going to cost him his life after ten days!”
“Ten days is a good enough time!” she said. “Let us enjoy the royal facilities till then.
Here, I’m putting ten date palms in a box. I shall give you one fruit every evening. The day the box becomes empty, that very night we will escape to the neighbouring kingdom.” Ali said nothing.
The burglars who belonged to the city knew that Ali had been asked to find them out. They were anxiously waiting to see if Ali would really succeed.
On the tenth day, the leader of the gang stealthily entered Ali’s house and tried to hear the conversations of the couple.
“Here is the tenth one, the biggest one at that. Finish it off!” said Lija, handing over the last date palm to her husband.
It so happened that there were ten burglars in the gang. The leader now had no doubt in his mind that he had been found out. He was also sure that he could not escape. He fell at Ali’s feet and said, “Kindly save our lives. We will surrender the booty to the last coin.” He then gave Ali a lot of money. Also, he and his men brought all the stolen money to Ali’s house.
The next day Ali carried the recovered property to the king. “My lord, my science says that the culprits should be pardoned in this case. Otherwise, some misfortune will befall us,” said Ali.
The king pardoned the burglars. He was so happy with Ali that he ordered his salary to be more than the chief astrologer’s!
But Ali’s anxiety and fear doubled. What if he fails next time? He could not sleep in peace. Any moment the king may ask him to solve some other mystery and his bluff may be exposed!
He thought and thought and then hit upon an idea. He must feign madness. The king will not expect any service from a lunatic! The money he had already got from the king and the burglar chief should be enough for the two of them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
He poured water on himself. Then he rushed into the king’s private chamber. The king was discussing some important issues with the minister. Ali, in order to prove that he was really mad, dragged the king out of his seat.
The very next moment a pillar collapsed on the seat, smashing it. Had Ali not dragged the king away, he would have died. The king stood speechless for some time at this unexpected happening. Ali too forgot that he was to act like a madman. Then the king hugged Ali and said, “O my saviour! I would be dead but for your timely intervention! What a great astrologer you are! And what a great well-wisher you are that you should jump right from your bath, all wet, to save me from a catastrophe! You are my chief astrologer and the chief courtier from this moment. I shall bestow upon you the most valuable reward I have ever given to anybody!”
“My lord, I have to reveal one thing to you. I had told the Lord of Astrology that if I could save my king from death, I would never practice astrology again. It is with this heavy sacrifice that I could save you!”
“Wonderful, wonderful, my friend! You need not practice astrology again. Even then you are my chief astrologer and my chief courtier! You will receive a royal salary all your life!” exclaimed the king.
The next time Lija went to the public bath, the former chief astrologer’s wife was bathing. But the hammam keeper sent a woman attendant to drag her out of the pool so that Lija could have all the water for herself!
