It is told that in ancient times lived a man named Marouf in the city of Cairo, and Marouf was a poor cobbler who worked on patching shoes and soles them, but he was in dire straits, and rarely came to him a man or woman requesting him to patch their sole. Marouf’s wife was a sharp-tongued, harsh-hearted woman who treated him with harshness and heard from her nothing but bad words because of the thinness of his condition.
She would constantly pressure him to bring foods and drinks and buy expensive clothes, and would not estimate what he was in of tightness of hand and severity of poverty. One day the harsh wife requested from her husband Marouf to bring her pancakes with sugar and honey and orange jam, and insisted on him that he should not return to the house except with the sweets.
He asked her to wait for him a day or several days until his condition improves and he brings money, but she began to scream in his face and insisted on him to bring it even if he borrowed from the confectioner. So Marouf went to his shop defeated by his command, and waited for customers to come so his condition would improve, but God did not grant him success on this day.
So he went to the confectioner with his broken spirit and told him his story, so the confectioner pitied his condition and gave him pancakes with sugar and honey, but he could not present him anything from the orange jam because it ran out from his shop. So Marouf returned to his wife with the sweets, but she became angry and raged when she looked and did not find the orange jam, and threw the plate of pancakes in his face and injured him severely.
She also overturned the table on which were his equipment and tools onto the ground, so Marouf became angry with that sharp-tongued wife and left her the house while she was cursing and swearing, resolving not to return to her again. Marouf kept walking away from the house, praying to God to guide him to another place to live in, away from that wife who does not praise God nor thank His provision. While he was walking, fatigue befell him, so he sat next to a wall, leaning his head a little, and suddenly a great noise emanated from the wall.
Suddenly the wall split open about a huge giant who stood before Marouf and said to him: I am here to fulfill your wish, ride my shoulders so I take you to a place you live in. Marouf recovered from his shock and the giant executed his request, and suddenly the giant transferred Marouf to the top of a mountain and landed him there. When Marouf looked before him, he found a large city, so he headed towards it and the giant departed.
Marouf kept walking towards the city until he reached it, and people gathered around him to know who this stranger coming to their city was, so he told them his name was Marouf and he was from Cairo. Among those gathered around him was a man named Ali who said to him that he also came from Cairo and told him his story.
When he came to that city, he had no money to trade with or eat from, so he told everyone that he was a rich merchant but waiting for his caravan that was late in coming. He borrowed money from the people of the city, so they lent it to him until his caravan arrived. When he collected money from them, he bought merchandise and traded with it until he was able to collect money and paid all debts to their owners.
The merchant advised Marouf to do what he did and lent him some money to buy a donkey, rent a house, and give charity to the poor so that everyone would think he was rich. So Marouf did as the merchant Ali advised him, and indeed people believed that Marouf was a rich merchant. He began to borrow from the nobles and merchants on the pretext that his caravan was late on the way.
When the condition prolonged and Marouf did not pay his debts to the merchants, they became anxious and went to complain about him to the king, but the king did not believe that a man like Marouf who does good to the poor and donates money and gifts was a swindler or poor. Therefore he summoned his minister and began to talk with him about Marouf’s matter and told him to be comfortable with him and desired to marry him to his daughter Princess Amira.
The minister harbored evil from the side of Marouf because he desired to marry Amira, and he began to plant his poison in the king’s ear from the side of Marouf and incited him against him, so the king sent to summon Marouf to test him, and gave him a precious jewel and said to him tell me oh Marouf how much do you estimate the value of this jewel?
Marouf realized that the king was testing him, so he said oh my master, its value does not exceed ten thousand dinars, but I have a ruby worth hundreds of thousands. The king was reassured with Marouf and believed what he said that his caravan was about to arrive on the way. After that, the king informed Marouf of his desire to marry him to his daughter, so Marouf apologized to the king because the money with him was not sufficient to present the dowry of Princess Amira and give generous gifts to the poor suitable for the wedding.
So the king said to him the treasury of the king is under your command until the arrival of your caravan oh Marouf, and indeed Marouf began to draw from the king’s treasury and give to the poor until they loved him. When the matter prolonged and the king’s treasury was about to be exhausted, the minister began to turn the king against Marouf, and the king agreed with his daughter to investigate the matter and know Marouf’s secret.
Princess Amira said to Marouf tell me your secret, for I am your wife and will be a helper to you and a protector of all you say, so Marouf told her his story and what happened with him from his birth until he married her. Amira kept her husband’s secret and requested from him to disguise at night in the clothes of horsemen and flee the kingdom to another kingdom to work in it and collect money to pay what he owed.
Marouf did as his wife advised him, and in the morning the king summoned Amira and asked her about the matter, so she said to him thieves have attacked his merchandise, so he wore the clothes of horsemen and traveled to pursue the thieves and recover his merchandise. The king believed what his daughter said. As for Marouf, he went to a neighboring kingdom and saw a farmer plowing the land, so he wanted to help him, and indeed he took the axe and began to plow with him.
The farmer requested permission to bring food to Marouf, and while Marouf was striking the ground with the axe, he found a golden ring, so he opened it, and found stairs extending to the bottom of the ground. Marouf descended and found before him two treasures of jewels and pearls, and in the treasure was a shining ring, so Marouf wore it, and suddenly a huge giant appeared before him.
He says to him: order me, for I am your obedient servant, so Marouf requested from him to transfer all this treasure in a golden box to take to the kingdom. When the farmer returned and saw Marouf among the treasures and jewels, he thought he was the king, but Marouf told him that he was the husband of his daughter and gave him generous precious gifts.
When Marouf returned to the kingdom, everyone received him with extreme hospitality. The king and Amira rejoiced at his return. In the evening of one of the days, Marouf was celebrating with the king and the minister, so he drank a lot, and the minister got him drunk until he learned his true story and the secret of the magic ring. When Marouf slept, the minister stole from him the ring to return it.
When the minister returned the ring, the giant appeared to him and said to him order me, for I am your obedient servant, so the minister requested from him to take the king and Marouf and throw them in the desert. The giant did what the minister ordered him, and after that the evil minister seized the rule and requested marriage from Amira. She requested a respite from him until her anger against her father and husband ended.
When the respite ended and Amira gathered with the minister, she told him that his ring disgusted her whenever he touched it, so the minister fell in the state of love and longing. When the minister slept, Amira returned the ring and the giant appeared to her, so she requested from him to chain the minister and imprison him and return her father the king and her husband to her. The giant executed Amira’s order, and the kingdom returned as it was before in happiness and peace.
After years, the king died, and Marouf assumed the rule, and he became the king of the country, and his wife Amira became the queen. They ruled among people with justice, and there was no longer in their kingdom a poor or needy person because they used to give people gifts and not differentiate between them, so people loved them and lived under their shade for long years.