Long time ago, a Sage lived in a Cathedral-mosque. He did not leave that place for long periods of times except in the times of pressing needs. One day a beautiful boy came to him and greeted him, "Salaam". The Sage welcomed him and asked his welfare and made him sit near him. Then he asked him what brought him there. The boy said - "Please do not ask me such questions, of worldly matters. I am fallen from the Heaven and my sole object is to tend to you." The Sage again welcomed him and the boy started serving him earnestly till he was 12 years old.

One day the boy heard from his fellows that the Sultaan's daughter was very beautiful, and he fell in love with her just by hearsay. He went to his master and spoke - "The King has a beautiful daughter, I just want to look at her once." The Sage asked him - "O My Son, What do we have to do with kings' or others' daughters? We should live a self-contained life and we should fear the Kings for our own safety." Thus the Sage continued to divert the attention of the boy against the shifts of Time, but the more he tried to do that, the more the boy resolved to fulfill his wish. Thus he continually started weeping and groaning. The Sage got concerned about his condition, because he loved him very much. At last he asked him - "Do you really want to have a look at the Sultaan's daughter?" "Yes." "Then come with me."

The Sage produced a kohl-pot and applied the kohl (Kaajal or a kind of powder to be applied in eyes to show them beautiful) to one of his scholar's eyes, such that whoever saw him cried out, "This is a half man." Then the Sage asked him to go in the city. Whoever saw him cried - "See the miracle, he is a half man." Thus he roamed freely in the city and the Harems of rich people. He was fairer than many others. When this news reached to the Sultaan, he asked his people to bring him to his presence, and on seeing him, admired Allaah's creation. The whole court gathered to watch him. The queen also heard about him so she was also called there and all women including the Princess, saw him. When he saw the Princess, he decided that either he will wed her or will slay himself. When he was dismissed from the King's Harem and he came back home.

The Sage asked him - "Did you see the Princess?" "I have, Sir, but this one look does not satisfy me. I have to look at her continuously." The Sage again said - "O child, We are ascetics who shun the world, we should not interfere in the matters of Sultaan." The youth said - "But if I didn't sit by her and stroke her shoulders and neck with these hands, I will slay myself." The Sage said to himself, "I will do whatever is in my power to do his good, rest is in Allaah's hands." He brought out the kohl-pot again and applied the powder to his other eye, and when it was settled, it made him invisible to people. Then he said to him - "Go now, and do whatever you like, but return soon, do not be absent for too long."

The boy went to the King's Harem again without any hesitation as nobody could see him. He made himself seated beside the Princess and stroked her neck and shoulder. As she felt his touch, she shrieked loudly - "Save me O Allaah from this Satan." Immediately all ran to her and asked her what was the matter. She told them that some Satan touched her on her shoulder and neck. Her mother got worried hearing this and called for her nurse. The nurse said - "If there is a Satan, it is not difficult to keep him away."

She went and brought some camel's dung and threw it in the fire. Its scent spread in the whole apartment quickly. When the dung-smoke thickened, it irritated the boy's eyes. He couldn't do anything else except weep and by weeping all his kohl flowed with tears and now he became visible to all. They all shrieked loudly, so all eunuchs rushed in. They saw the boy sitting beside the Princess. They took him to the Sultaan and reported his crime. The Sultaan ordered his executioner to robe him in black color patched with red color, then to set him on a camel and parading in the whole city, and then put him to death.

So the executioner took him around the city on the camel. He found him beautiful and noticed that he did not fear death also. So he had pity on him. He brought a leather gown, put it on him and took him around the city as the Sultaan ordered him. He came to that square where that mosque was in which that Sage lived. The Sage saw the condition of his scholar. He immediately read a spell and fetched him from the camel's back through a Genie. He brought him with great care and he set another oldster on the camel's back.

When the crowd saw the youth suddenly transformed in an old man, they got frightened and cried, "See, The young man has changed into an old man." Then they looked again and saw a person well-known amongst themselves, who sold greens etc at the gate of the Cathedral-mosque. The executioner also got frightened seeing this and he came back to the palace with the oldster seated on the camel and reported to Sultaan what happened in the city. He told Sultaan - "O Lord, Certainly the youth has disappeared, and instead of him this Shekh is here whom we all know well."

Sultaan also got terrified with this and thought, "Whoever has done this, he can do even more, he can depose me from my kingship, or devise my death." He called his Vazeer and asked his advice. The Vazeer thought for a while and spoke - "Your Majesty, We are facing a situation beyond our imagination. We should fear from him for your daughter. Send a crier in the whole city saying, "Whoever has done this should appear before the Sultaan under the promise of safety." And if the youth surrenders himself, marry your daughter to him, because it seems that is his objective; he is in love with your daughter."

The Sultaan did the same as his Vazeer suggested. When the crier was announcing, the youth went to his Sage and told him what the crier was saying, so he must go to the Sultaan now. The Sage said  "Why do you want to go to him? Have you not suffered enough?" The boy said - "I will surely go there." "Then go and Allaah be your guard." The boy took bath, wore his best clothes and went to the Sultaan and greeted him. The Sultaan asked him - "O Youth, Who are you?" He replied - "I am the half-man you saw in your Harem, and I came when you sent your crier."

The Sultaan made him sit with great honor and talked to him on several topics of learning. The youth proved himself superior to the Sultaan by answering his questions in an all-sufficient way like a book. The Sultaan was very impressed by the eloquence of his speech and the purity of phrase and the readiness of his replies. He had decided to marry his daughter to him. He said to him - "My wish is to marry my daughter to you, because since you have seen her, her mother will marry her to you only." The boy said - "I am ready to obey you but first I must consult my friends." "Sure."

The boy came to Sage, told him everything and said that he wanted to marry the Sultaan's daughter. The Sage replied - "There is no harm in a lawful marriage. Go and ask her in marriage." The boy said - "But I wish to invite the Sultaan here." The Sage said - "Go and invite him here." The boy said - "Since I have come here, I have been serving you only, I don't know anybody else, and you don't move from this narrow cell. How can we invite the Sultaan here?" The Sage replied - "Have trust in Allaah and invite him here. Tell him, "My Sage greets you and invites you for food next Friday." The Sultaan replied - "I will come."

The boy waited for next Friday for the Sultaan's coming. When the Friday came, the Sage said to the boy - "Come and I will show you our house, so that you can bring the Sultaan there." They walked for some distance and came to a ruin in the heart of the city - the whole place was only a heap of mud, clay and stones. The Sage said - "O Son, This is our mansion, you bring your Sultaan here." "Here? It will be a disgrace for me to bring him here in this ruin." The Sage said - "Go and don't fear." The boy went away thinking, "This Sage has gone mad, he has forgotten the difference between truth and untruth in his insanity."

He went to the Sultaan and said - "Please honor us with your presence." The Sultaan was ready and both came to those ruins where the Sage had invited the Sultaan for food.

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