Long ago, on a hot summer night in Afghanistan, the king decided to leave the palace and go out into the city for some fresh air.
So he took off his royal garments and put on the clothes of a peasant, and went by himself to wander through the streets of his city.
At first he went to the center of town, and from there he walked until he reached a poor section on the outskirts of the city. After a while the heat began to bother him, and he saw that one of the houses there had a light in the window, and a pleasant singing voice reached the king's ears. The king came closer and peered through the window of that house, and there he saw a man sitting at the table beside his wife. On the table were different kinds of fruits and salads and a small bottle of arak. The man drank a glass of the arak and tasted the fruits and sang praises to God.
The king stood at the window for a few minutes, astonished by the peace and serenity of this poor man, and he wondered what might be the source of his joy. So the king knocked on the door, and when the man inside asked who it was, he told him that he was a wanderer, and he asked if he might be accepted as a guest. Then the man immediately opened the door and invited the king inside, and offered him food and drink, and the man himself resumed his joyful ways. After a while the king asked his host what he did to earn a living, and the man replied: I am a poor Jew. I wander in the streets during the days and fix shoes, and with whatever I earn I buy enough to sustain my wife and myself. And the king said: But what will happen to you when you get old and won't be able to work? And the man replied: I don't have to worry, for there is someone who looks out for me. This reply surprised the king, and he said: Who is this guardian?
I see that you and your wife are home alone and that you don't have children. And if you do have children, it will be many years before they grow up. At this the man laughed and said: It is not a man who protects me, but God, may His Name be blessed and praised forever. The king laughed when he heard this, and he got up and said: It is late and I must go. But if I come here again, will I be welcome? And the man told him he would be welcome any time.
The king went back to his palace and decided to test this man, to see how he would fare in times of adversity. So he issued a command forbidding anyone to fix shoes in the streets. And the next day, when the Jew got up and came to the city, he was astonished to see an order denying him his livelihood. Then he lifted his eyes to heaven and said: God, the door to my livelihood has been shut. But I am confident that you will open another one to take its place. And when he looked around him he saw a man carrying a water pitcher, and he said to himself:
From now on I will be a water carrier. So he went to the market and bought a water jug, and then he went to the well and filled it and carried it into town until he found someone who needed the water, and he did this all day long. And by the time evening came he found that he had as much money as usual, which was enough to purchase food for his wife and himself.
That night the king returned to the house of the Jew to see how he was faring after the order he had given. And the king was astonished when he peered through the window and saw that the man was as happy as ever. So he went to the door and knocked, and the man invited him to join them at the table. Then the king said: What did you do today? For surely you saw the announcement of the king. The man replied: The Holy One, blessed be He, did not abandon me, and just because the king closed one door to me, God opened another to take its place. And the man told the king about how he had become a water carrier, and how well his work had gone.
After a while the king took his leave and returned to the palace. The next day he gave an order that made it forbidden for water to be sold to anyone, and from then on each person had to draw water for himself.
When the Jew returned to the well, he discovered that his new occupation had been outlawed by the king. And while he stood there, trying to think of what he might do, a group of woodcutters passed by him on their way to the forest to cut wood. He asked them if he might go with them and cut wood to earn his daily bread, and they welcomed him. So it was that he worked hard all day long cutting wood, and in the evening, after he had sold what he had cut, he found he had earned as much as he did when he was a shoemaker and a water carrier.
In the evening the king returned to his house, curious to know how he had done that day. And when he learned that the Jew had found a new occupation, he decided on a new plan to test the man. The next morning the king ordered the captain of his guards to come to him, and he said: Take your soldiers to the road that leads to the forest, and stop all the woodcutters who pass and bring them to the palace. Then dress them as palace guards and give them swords, and order them to guard the palace. The captain of the guards did as the king had commanded, and among the woodcutters who were brought to the palace was the Jew. The woodcutters were made to guard all day, and in the evening the new guards were all sent home with their new uniforms and their swords. But they were not paid anything, for the guards received their wages only once a month.
So it was that the Jew returned home empty-handed, and he was very puzzled, for he did not have enough to live for another day, much less for another month. Then he saw his new sword hanging in its sheath, and he had a clever idea. First he made a sword of the same size and shape out of wood, like the kind he had when he was a child, and put it in the sheath. Then he took the sword of the king and sold it, and the money he got for it was enough to live on until the end of the month. After this he went to the market and bought food and drink for himself and his wife and returned home, a happy man.
What a surprise it was for the king that night, when he returned to the Jew's house and found him sitting as usual, singing happy songs in praise of God, as if he did not have a worry in the world. The king asked him what he had done that day, and the man told him all that had happened. Then the king said: And what are you going to do if the king hears about the sword? And the man replied: I don't worry about things that haven't happened.
I simply trust in God not to abandon me, and my confidence in Him is strong. The next day, when the palace guards came to their posts, the king ordered that they report to the center of the city, for there was to be an execution that day, and it was the custom for all the citizens to go to see the sentence carried out. And when everyone was assembled and the execution was about to take place, the king ordered that the Jew be called upon to cut off the head of the condemned man, who had stolen a melon from the palace garden. Now when he heard this, the Jew became very afraid and said to the officer who had given him the order: Do not ask me to do this, for I have never even killed a fly! The officer said: It is an order of the king that you must obey, and if you do not it will cost you your life! And when the Jew saw that there was no escape, he asked to be given a few minutes to pray to God to give him courage, and then he would do what he was told.
Then the Jew stood up in front of the large crowd and prayed silently. After this he lifted his eyes to heaven and said in a loud voice: My Lord, you know me very well, and you know that I have never killed anyone in my whole life, and now I am commanded to do so by force. Please, Lord, if this man in front of me is guilty, let me take my sword from its sheath and cut off his head in a single blow. But if he is not guilty, let my sword turn to wood, as a sign of his innocence. And by then all eyes were on the Jew, and he reached into his sheath and pulled out his sword and held it up high. And when everyone saw that it was wooden, the crowd gasped and then clapped and cheered, for they assumed that a miracle had taken place. The king was delighted when he saw the wisdom of the Jew, and called him over and said: Do you recognize me? The Jew looked at the king closely and at last he said: You are my guest! It is you who have visited my house four times! And the king said: That is right, and from now on you will be my guest, for I see that you are a man of wisdom, whose confidence in God is strong and unwavering. I intend to make you my right hand and to listen to your advice. So it was that the Jew and his wife came to live in the palace, where the Jew became the trusted adviser of the king. And all this came about because of his unshakable confidence in God, may His Name be blessed forever and forever.