The Sorcerer and the Sultan’s Son

Once upon a time there was a sultan who had three sons, whom no one was able to teach them anything; a situation that greatly saddened the sultan and his wife.

One day a sorcerer came to the sultan and said, “If I take your three sons and teach them to read and write, and make them great scholars, what will you give me?”

The Sultan told him. “I will let you have fifty percent of my wealth.”

“No,” said the sorcerer; “That won’t work.”

“I’ll give you 50% of all the area i own.”

“No; that won’t be enough.”

“What do you want, then?”

“When I make your sons scholars and send them back to you, select two of them and give me a third; because I want to have a best friend. ”

“I have agreed,” said the sultan.

The sorcerer took them, and surprisingly he taught them to read and write letters and made them very good scholars in a very short time. He then returned them to the sultan and said: “Here are the children. They are all equally good scholars. Select now please. ”

At the Home of the Beggar

The Sultan took the two children he loved, and the sorcerer left with the third, whose name was Keejaa’naa, to go to his house, which was very large.

The demon-possessed man gave the boy all the keys

When they arrived at the house, Mchaa’wee, who is a sorcerer gave the boy all the keys, saying, “Open whatever you want.” Then he told him that he was going to be his new father from that point onward, but he will be traveling for a month.

Keejaa’naa’s Exploration

When he left, Keejaa’naa took the keys and went to explore the house. He checked one of the doors and realized it was fully packed with gold. The youngman pocked is finger in the gold, and his finger got tainted with gold allover, he tried to remove it and wipe it as hard as he could but the gold did not wash out; He wrapped himself in a piece of cloth, and when his father returned home and saw the cloth, he asked him what he had done with his finger, the boy was hesitant to speak the truth, therefore he twisted the story and said that he had a cut on his finger.

Shortly after Mchaawee left again, the young man picked up the keys and continued his exploration.

The first room he opened was full of goat bones, the second had sheep bones, the third had cow bones, the fourth had donkey bones, the fifth had horse bones, the sixth had human being skulls and seventh there was a live horse.

Magic Horse and Escape Plan

“Hello!” the horse greeted and asked; “Son of Adam, what part of this world are you coming from?”

“This is my father’s house,” said Keejaa’naa.

“Ah, really!” he responded. “Well, you have a wonderful parent! So! Do you know that he is involved in eating people, donkeys, horses, cattle, goats and everything he can put in his hands? You and I are the only living creatures left. ”

This terrified the young man, and he began to wonder, “What shall we do?”

“What is your name?” Asked the horse.

“Keejaa’naa.”

“My name is Faaraa′see. Now, Keejaa’naa, first of all, come and open me up.”

The young man did so immediately.

“Now, open the door to the golden room, and I will swallow everything from that room; then I will go wait for you under a big tree on the road for a bit. When the sorcerer comes back home, he will ask you to go find some wood; then you will say, ‘I do not know how to do it;’ and he shall therefore go do it himself. When he comes back from cutting wood, he will put a big pot on the stove and ask you to light a fire under that pot. You tell him you don’t know how to light a fire neither, and he will have to light it himself.

In the end, he will bring a lot of butter, and when it is in the middle of boiling he’ll set up swing for you and he’ll say, ‘Come on I’ll push you to swing.’ But you will tell him you have never played the game, and ask him to swing first, so that you can understand how it is played. He will get up to show you;

After these instructions, the magic horse went on his way.

The Murder of a Sorcerer

Mchaa’wee invited some of his friends for a party at his home that evening; therefore, he came back home early than usual, and said to Keejaa’naa, “Let’s go and get some wood; but the young man replied, “I do not know how to fetch wood.” As a result the sorcerer went alone and brought wood.

Then he put the large pot on and asked the boy, “Please light a fire;” but the young man again said, “I do not know how to light a fire.” The sorcerer had to put the wood under the pot and lit it himself.

Then just like the magic horse explain, the sorcerer said, “Put all the butter in the pot;” but the young man answered, “I cannot lift the butter jar up; I do not have enough strength.” The sorcerer had to do this task too.

In the end Mchaa’wee asked, “Have you ever seen this popular sport in our country?” Keejaa’naa replied, “I have never experienced or seen this before.”

“Well,” said the sorcerer, “Let’s play while we wait for the butter to boil up.”

He closed the swing and said to Keejaa’naa, “Come and let us play this game.” But the young man said: “You go first and teach me. I’ll learn quicker in that fashion.”

The sorcerer sat on the swing, and as soon as he began to swing Keejaanaa pushed him into the big pot; and at that moment the butter was boiling, it not only killed him, but also boiled him.

As soon as the boy pushed the sorcerer into the big pot, he ran as fast as he could to the big tree, where the horse was waiting for him.

“Come quickly” said Faaraa’see; “Jump on the saddle on my back and let get out of this place.”

He got up and they started to leave.

When the sorcerer’s guests came, they started searching for him everywhere, but they did not find him. After waiting a long time, they began to feel very hungry; they began to look for food, they the big pot with stew that was ready, they began to discuss the situation among themselves, “Let’s start eating” and began to eat what was in the pot. When they had finished, they looked for Mchaa’wee again, they found enough necessities in the house, they thought they would stay there until he returned; but after waiting for several days and eating all the food there, they despaired and had to return to their homes.

Keejaa’naa’s New Life

Meanwhile, Keejaa’naa and the magic horse continued their journey until they reached a very long distance, and finally stopped near a really big city.

“Stay here,” suggested Keejaa’naa, “and let’s build a house.”

Faaraa’see agreed and they did. The horse coughed up all the gold he had swallowed, which they used to hire maids, buy cattle, and everything else they needed.

When the people of the town saw the beautiful new house and all the maids, cattle and wealth in it, they went to tell their sultan, who immediately assumed that the individual of that beautiful palace must be great importance and needed a very special  visit and be recognized as an important person in the community.

He called her Keejaa’naa, and started trying to get to know him especially in terms of who he was.

“Ah, I’m just a normal person, like everyone else.”

“Are you a traveler?”

“Correct; but I have fallen in love with this place, and I think I’ll end up staying here.”

“Why don’t you take a tour of our city?”

“I would definitely appreciate that, but I need someone to show me around.”

“Ah, I’ll be your guide,” the sultan said, eagerly, as he was very persuaded by the young man.

After that conversation Keejaanaa and the sultan became great friends; and after a long period of time the young man married the sultan’s daughter, whom they were blessed enough to have one son together.

They lived together happily everafter, and Keejaanaa loved Faaraasee as his own soul (Tip: If you have enjoyed this story, check out our other folktale “The Young Hunter and the Cannibal” whereby a Sultan went on a big quest to kill a Cannibal)

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