In ancient times, there was a prince who ate all kinds of foods and left nothing in his stomach unrotten. He didn’t look at anything other than it. Eating was his first and last. He didn’t love travel, moving, and roaming. He went out little, had no friends or relatives except the baker. He was the only one who accompanied the prince wherever he went.
Everyone was sad at the baker, for burdens descended on him every night. The prince was never satisfied, and he was fat, which made him a cause of sarcasm by everyone. The king noticed this and also noticed the prince’s lack of care for the poor and needy who came to the palace to get food, which aroused the king’s worry.
This drove the king to consult the wise men to find a solution to his son’s matter. One of the wise men advised that the solution was with the doctors. Then the king invited doctors from different countries. The doctors agreed that the prince was afflicted with gluttony, and all the medicines they gave him didn’t benefit. The king kept thinking until he reached an exit, and decided to announce a large material reward for whoever could stop the prince from his eating.
Then the king’s guards launched cries across the borders to inform the people. When the guards of the people heard the news, they flocked to the palace in groups. The king sat and beside him the gluttonous prince, and ordered the admission of everyone.
The cook advanced and placed before him a loaf of barley bread and some dry pastries he made from barley, so the prince wouldn’t be surprised at them. The prince made a face at the bread and pastries, approached the bread and devoured it, then asked the cook to teach him his special way of making it. By nature, the cook failed in his mission and placed before him the reward. The groom uncovered the cauldron, and a piece of uncooked meat appeared that was so hard he couldn’t chew it, but the prince approached it and asked the cook to prepare for him like it daily, and the groom also failed, and the king’s hopes failed.
Then the candy seller advanced, and he had burnt his candy until it became bitter in taste. Because the prince didn’t care for the taste of the candy and its drink, he asked the cook to sweeten for him daily with candy from candy. They all failed, and the king’s hope was lost. Then the baker intended to enter the kitchen to place the solution between his hands. The magician entered the kitchen and began amazing everyone with his wonderful movements. The magician took the prince and stopped him from approaching the food. Then the prince rang the bell to call the cook to feed him with foods. So the magician also failed in his mission.
Signs of digestion began to appear on the king. After several months, an old woman entered the kitchen, appearing on her face signs of wisdom. She gave the greeting, advanced toward the gluttonous prince, whispered in his ear and said, “I know you love eating a lot. Therefore, the king will permit me to travel with you to countries of honey and sweets.” The prince was surprised and said to the old woman, “Yes, I agree.” The old woman said, “I am from a distant country, so you should ride a fast mount to get there before nightfall and don’t block the path of the wolves and foxes.”
Then the prince asked if there was an old woman for that country. The old woman said, “Haven’t you heard of that country and read about it in books? It’s a country from ancient times and from its seasons of old.” The prince felt extreme shame at getting to know that country and all those countries.
The king was surprised at the talk that happened between the prince and the old man, and he ordered the arrest of the old woman. The old woman said to him, “Oh King, I am here to solve the prince’s problem. Do with me as you want, but make him ride a fast mount to the desert as you wish.”
The king and the old woman agreed on the prince traveling to the mountains for several days, and the journey of the prince traveling to the countries of honey and sweets began. He didn’t travel with them but barley bread and pastries only. So the prince asked about the reason for carrying them. He said to him, “So you can carry them in baskets of honey and sweets, and descend to the heart of the city. It was the first time the prince walked on his feet without entourage or guards.
The prince was amazed at the voices of the singing and the huge number of people, then they went to the nearest place, and the old woman gave the prince clothes like the journey. He left the city rising toward the mountains. The prince began to stumble in his steps. The woman and the old man asked him to stop a little and ride one of the animals. The woman made the prince and said to him, “Don’t you see the region is hot, and no carriage can enter it.”
He said to her, “Ride the mule,” but he said to him, “I don’t know the prince’s craft, and I noticed for the first time the royalty they had always tried to make him learn.” Then the old woman said to him, “Hurry, we, so we cross before nightfall, lest we encounter wolves and foxes.” Night fell and the old woman held his hand, and they continued walking until they reached a small village at the top of the mountain. Then the old woman said, “Sleep in the village, and in the morning the journey will complete.”
The prince said, “Will they forgive us for entering their house?” The old woman laughed and said, “It’s my house, my little one.” The fatigue entered the house of the prince, unlike the prince when he approached some bread on his mule, and when he found a beauty he threw himself on it and fell in deep sleep.
In the morning of the next day, the prince woke up and went out of the village, found the old woman’s friend carrying a burden. He said to him, “Good morning, how are you?” The old woman said to him, “How did you sleep, oh prince?” He didn’t respond. He was dazzled by the beauty of the place. The scenes that delighted him had confused him. The palace took care of the side opposite to the arrangement, and he was surprised how he didn’t see the place when he was in the palace—the old woman used to make him explore everything himself. He guided him to the place of bathing.
The prince found a place empty of a barrel woven of palm fibers in which were dates and fruits. The place was filled with the smells of high fruits. The prince was in the extreme of gluttony and began to enrich while he was inside the barrel, so the animals approached him to enjoy his sweet taste. He finished bathing, and the old woman gave him new clothes that would fit the old woman in her size but were tight on him, so the belt of the old woman was cut off, and he said to her, “It was tight on me, and I’m in your same condition.”
The old woman said to him, “I’ll teach you how you’ll be satisfied. This is the first lesson the prince learns at the mountains.” Then they transferred to the table of food made of wood. The old woman placed barley bread, candy, and delicious drinks for the prince. He said to him, “We have great tasks ahead of us, so you must start.” It was the first time walking and roaming and working under the sun without a mount. He spent days learning and became thin, decreased, and carried the loads and walked and helped the old man.
He began to lose his fatness and became fit, running and jumping and becoming in activity. Then the old woman said to the prince to become his partner and took with him the basket of food and began to fill the basket with amounts of honey and sweets, then took him to the houses of the poor and said to him, “Leave those houses. They ask for food. Wait for me from the east and the west.”
The prince thanked the old woman that she taught him the meaning of the word hunger, which he knew from days of hunger and hardship. The old woman and the prince continued for two months, and the body of the prince became beautiful, transformed from his fatness. He acquired many experiences that taught him how to train the horses. The mission the king had given the old woman ended.
The king’s messenger came asking the old woman to send the prince to the palace. The prince opened the door, and in the beginning he didn’t recognize the prince in the door, then he said to him, “You’ve changed a lot, my master.” The prince said to him, “Who came with you?” Then the old man winked at him and said to him, “Has the period ended with this speed?” The prince said, “What period?”
Then the old man winked from the prince and said to him, “Do you have the ability to accept my apology, oh prince?” The prince said to him, “Why? What did the old man say?” He said to the prince, “He promised me he would take me to countries of honey and sweets, but the prince forgot and returned the old man, and the prince went to the palace. He was welcomed by the king with great longing. Celebrations were held on the prince’s shoulder, and days and months passed, and he began to learn royalty and arts of riding. Every morning he would watch from the balcony of his balcony the old man’s carriage and remember his days with him.
After years, they became kings of the countries, and he didn’t forget the old man who taught him. After the old man died, the king built a large center to help the poor with the carriage of the old man, assistance and guidance for him.