“Why is your price so high, young lady"?

 (An adaptation of a folk story)

The sultan heard that there was a slave girl in the market whose price was higher than that of a hundred slaves.

He ordered that this slave be brought to him so he could see for himself what made her so exceptional.

The sultan's guards went to the market to fetch the slave, and the girl saw the guards; and she saw a mouse escape through the cat's claws, and she saw some men carrying a litter with a dead man on it. Simultaneously, she saw all those things, and everything became still for a fraction of time.

"All of them good omens", she thought.

The sultan looked at her as she stood before him with a dignity he had never seen in a slave,

and he examined her, noticing how her eyes swept the surroundings and him as if everything there belonged to her,

though she trusted none and not a thing.

He also saw how her hands hung under their own weight, as if they were not hands but
wings tied down by fatigue, and by something else that the sultan could not understand.
He asked her, “Why is your price so high, young lady? Why so precious?” 

She replied: " Because I am distinguished for my intelligence."

Intrigued, the sultan said to her, "I will ask you a question. If you answer correctly, I will set you free. If you answer incorrectly, I will take your life. What is the most beautiful garment, the most beautiful fragrance, the most delicious food, the softest bed, and the most beautiful country?"

All the people who have gathered in that royal court seemed to think the same thing,

'Our sultan is clever, but how cruel-hearted now! How would the poor thing know about these things, a slave and an orphan since birth...

The slave turned towards the first people that her eyes met and said: "Prepare my things and my horse, because I will leave this palace as a free woman".

“The most beautiful garment is the shirt of a poor man who owns only one, for it suits him both in winter and in summertime.

The most pleasant fragrance is that of the mother, even if she is merely a fire-stoker in a public bath and a cleaner.

The most delicious food is the one eaten when hungry, for even stale bread tastes delicious to someone who is starving.

The softest bed is the one on which you sleep in peace. If you are unjust, even a bed of gold will feels like a bed full of thorns.”

She walked towards the door, and the Sultan called after her: “You have not answered my last question…“

She turned to him and calmly said:

"The most beautiful country is the one that is free and not ruled by fools and indifferent people.

The one whose Governor is a just and kind Father to his people and their loyal servant.

The most beautiful country is the one where people take care of each other as they would take care of their beloved.

“The most beautiful country is the one that has kind-hearted people".

She had answered correctly. She was happy.