Uncle Jamil owned a beautiful, green orchard where birds sang, played among the branches, and bees flew among the flowers. A spring ran through the orchard, watering the almond, apple, peach, fig, and olive trees. There was a small tree named Ruman. Ruman was a small, pampered tree in the orchard. The wind played with its luscious branches, and the sweet spring waters watered its roots. With the arrival of the spring season, Ruman wore a green robe, but it did not bear flowers or fruit like the other trees because it was still small.
Ruman was extremely sad and said to herself, “Why do all the trees carry this beautiful appearance while I do not possess that?” She began to cry, and her tears fell on the face of the spring sleeping under the trees. Ruman’s tears awakened the spring. When she told him her wish, his heart softened, and he said to her, “Do not be sad, my dear. You will immediately become the most beautiful of the trees.”
The spring extended his hands to his magical waters, scooped a handful of water with his palms, and scattered it on the small Ruman. She immediately wore a purple robe of pomegranate flowers. Ruman rejoiced and began to boast of her flowers among the orchard’s trees. After what was and what was, Ruman bloomed, time passed, and the orchard’s trees bloomed. Ruman was sad again and complained to the spring with sadness about her desire that her flowers become fruit like the other trees. She requested a crown to crown her fruit so she would become the queen of the trees.
The magic spring responded to the small Ruman’s request and turned her flowers into fruits. The spring called the orchard’s birds and asked them to gather stars from the sky to make a crown for Ruman. The birds fulfilled the spring’s request, and Ruman had a crown above each fruit.
Ruman rejoiced with her crown and said to the spring, “I am the queen of this orchard, and everything is in my kingdom. So I command you to turn all the trees in the orchard into Ruman trees.” The spring said with sadness, “O little one, all these trees love you, shade you with their branches and leaves, play with their roots, and give fruit and joy to the beholders.” But she did not listen to the spring’s words and insisted that he execute her command.
So the spring submitted to her, and the entire orchard became Ruman. When Ruman woke from her sleep on the morning of the next day, she looked at all the trees in the orchard and saw that they were all exactly like her, carrying Ruman fruit and leaves. She no longer felt that she was the most beautiful and could no longer boast of anything. Ruman was sad and felt loneliness. She remembered the orchard’s trees: the evergreen orange tree, the fig tree that shaded the orchard in the hot summer and carried the most delicious fruit, and the almond trees that entered joy into her heart.
Throughout the orchard, she remembered the jasmine that hung down and the birds whose singing she no longer heard. Ruman felt boredom and great sadness. She began to cry, and her tears fell on the spring’s face. The magic spring felt her hot tears and asked her, “Why are you sad, little one?” Ruman said, “I regret all that has happened. I beg you to return the orchard to its former state.” The spring rejoiced greatly when he heard these words and fulfilled her request immediately…