SHIRT OF HAPPY MAN
A king got a relentless disease. All the doctors in his kingdom came to the palace. The doctors in the neighbour countries were called as well. But no remedy was found. The king was getting weaken day by day in front of everyone. In the depths of despair, he wanted all fortune tellers and sorcerers to be brought to the palace as a last resort.
His men stormed around. They collected every single person in the country who is reputed to be a fortune teller or wizard. These fortune tellers and wizards, one after another examined the king, performed their tricks, but none of them could make any improvement.
One day, when the king had despaired thoroughly, an old woman came to his palace. She said she knew how to sort the king’s disease out!
The old woman was taken to the king. The King by not being able to straighten up in his bed spoke barely: “Tell me, woman! What is your cure?”
She explained the way she knew it: “Your men will walk around the country, find the happiest man in the country, trade his shirt, and bring it to you. You will be healed by wearing this shirt.”
The King gave orders and his men distributed through the whole country immediately. They first started to knock the door of the richest. But they realised that none of the rich people they talked was happy as they might imagined. A few people gave their most valuable shirts. The King wore shirts, but they didn’t help at all. So it turned out that the owners of those shirts were not as happy as they said.
The King was furious. Across the country, his men looking for the happiest man regardless of the haves and the have-nots.
A few of the men of the King who were thirsty as they wandered around were passing by a hut. When they approached to ask for some water, they heard the sound from the inside. A man was talking to himself:
I’m so happy. I couldn’t be better, I ate my fill. I’ve enough energy to also work tomorrow. I am definitely the happiest man in the world right now!
In this extremely poor hut, a man was sitting on the ground. He was eating the breadcrumbs and cheese that he put on a paper that he lay out the ground his mouth while singing. The men of the King walked in by forgetting water in the excitement of finding the happy man they were looking for.
They were stiffened with the scene they saw when they made a move towards the man in order to do their full duty.
The man didn’t even have a shirt to wear.