The Akhun's Son and the Impossible Rubies

An elderly Akhun, a respected religious teacher, once asked his four sons what work they hoped to do.

Three chose familiar duties in the mosque. The youngest said, “I want to travel, study hidden things, and learn how people protect what is precious.” His answer worried his father, but the young man promised to use whatever he learned honestly.

On his journey he met a princess escaping a corrupt vizier who wanted to control her choices. She carried a ruby found in a mountain stream. Together they reached another city, where the young man found work caring for the king's horses.

One day a merchant offered the king two rubies. The young traveller examined them closely.

“One is sound,” he said. “The other has a tiny hollow hidden inside.”

The jeweller confirmed his judgment, and the king appointed him royal lapidary—the expert who examined gems.

A jealous barber and vizier wanted his position. They persuaded the king to demand an identical ruby, then a necklace, and finally two extraordinary bracelets.

Each task seemed impossible. Yet the princess shared her ruby freely. At a forest spring they met Lalmal, a wise guardian who knew where rare stones could be found without stealing them. A third woman, skilled in metalwork and old pathways, helped fashion the bracelets and gave the lapidary a woven carpet light enough for mountain travel.

The barber mocked these helpers, but the lapidary listened to them. Together they checked each gem, traded fairly with miners, and recorded where every stone had come from.

At last the jealous vizier told the king to demand news from a distant land no messenger could reach before winter. The companions crossed the mountains on their light travelling carpet and returned with fruit, a sealed message, and witnesses from that country.

The evidence revealed that the vizier had invented the tasks hoping the lapidary would fail. The king removed him from office and apologized.

The Akhun's son became known not merely for judging rubies, but for recognizing wisdom in others. He returned to his father with his three companions and said, “No person solves every task alone. The most precious knowledge grows when it is shared.”

His father smiled. The youngest son's path had been unusual, but he had kept his promise to walk it honestly.