She insisted, “I must”. He replied, “If you don’t desist, I will do to you what the merchant did to his wife”. She asked, “Father what did the merchant do to his wife?” He said:
[The Tale Of The Noble Merchant & His Persistent Wife]
Long ago there was a noble merchant who had been given the ability of being able to understand animals. The downside to this ability was that if he revealed his secret to anyone, it would result in his immediate death; or so he was told. Therefore, for many years he kept this secret hidden from his family as well as the animals. One night after his wife had cooked them a delicious supper, the merchant looked out his window, and entertained himself by listening to the donkey and the ox. For the donkey had just told the ox how he tired of the hard work he endured and was jealous of the donkey’s luxurious and carefree life. The donkey took pity on the ox and decided to impart some advice on to the ox. He told him, if he tired of his exhausting life he should simply show it. The following day, remembering the donkey’s advice, the ox decided to not listen to the donkey for deep down he knew if he stopped doing his chores. He would be sent over to the butcher and be eaten by the merchant and his wife. As they were having breakfast the merchant was surprised that the ox hadn’t listened to the donkey. He chuckled to himself and called over the herdsman to reward the ox by giving him the day off and giving him better fodder; for he had seen the ox’s strategy. After their conversation, the merchants wife was confused and asked her husband why he had rewarded the ox. The merchant knew that if he explained to his wife what happened between the animals he would surely die. Therefore, he told her there was no reason behind it. Knowing that her husband had never given fair treatment to any of the other ox’s she refused to believe him, and asked him to tell her why he rewarded the ox. The merchant decided to be honest to appease his wife by telling her if he revealed the interaction with the animals, it would result in his immediate death. The wife simply thought her husband was toying with her, and continued to pester him for the truth. It pained the merchant to see his wife so upset, so in order to appease her. He gathered both their family members, established his will, and told everyone that he was about to reveal a secret that would cause his imminent death. The news stunned his family, leaving the room in complete silence as the waited to hear this life threatening secret. Due to his fear, it took him several tries before he was able to tell his family his ability. Once he was able to utter the words ‘I have the power to understand animals’, he waited for death to take him. A few minutes passed and seeing that her husband had not died, everyone began to laugh for they thought he was crazy. The merchant shocked that he was alive, laughed and hugged his wife tightly as she had freed him, from the fear he harbored inside for so long. Their families simply thought it was a practical joke and since they were all together decided to turn their day of mourning into a day of celebration.
As soon as the merchant stepped out into the open, he was still expecting something to happen. Nothing came. The next day he performed his normal activities and then he saw the donkey and the ox. The ox had looked a little ill. A few hours passed by and the condition worsened. Another few hours and the ox had died. At this moment, the merchant thought this was merely a coincidence and was not a foreshadowing of what was to come for him. The next day, the donkey started to look sick and it too had died before nightfall. “The donkey and the ox must have killed each other,” the merchant thought. This was definitely random, but still not a sign of things to come. The next day another one of his animals died. He knew this was only going to continue until he ran out of animals and then what would happen? Would this curse go away? Would it continue to kill each and every living creature on Earth? Eventually after months had passed by all of the animals were killed. The merchant wondered what would happen next. Then each one of his close family members was killed, one by one, one day at a time. When it was just he and his wife left he exclaimed, “My beautiful wife! If this is the end for us, I am so, so sorry! Just know I will always love you and I hope to see you after death!” And then she died. All of the merchants closest friends, animals, and family had been killed. “Just take me away already! Kill me! I have nothing left to lose!” And with that, a genie who had given him this secret ability to speak to animals appeared. The genie asked, “I told you not to expose your secret, but you did. Why?” The merchant explained it was because his wife had grown upset with him and he could not lie to her any longer for his love for her was too strong and a relationship must be built on trust. The genie surprisingly understood the merchant’s point and said, “Now if you do me one favor, I may bring back everything I took away from you. I need you to spread your love around this world and inject a new, peaceful life into it.” And in the blink of an eye, the genie disappeared, and everything had been brought back to life.