LONG ago in olden times there was a Sultan, and he had a daughter beautiful as the moon at its fulness.
This Sultan said that he would only marry his daughter to a man of wisdom. So to all who came to seek his daughter's hand he asked three questions.
The first was, "When famine comes to a place and leaves it again, where does it go?"
The second was, "When sickness comes to a place and leaves it again, where does it go?"
And the third was, "When war comes to a place and leaves it again, where does it go?"
No one was able to answer these questions for many months and many years, till at last there came a man who said, "I will answer your questions, oh Sultan."
The Sultan replied, "Speak on, stranger."
So that man said, "When famine comes to a country and leaves it again it goes to the idle, for they make no profit and sit always with hunger for a cup-fellow.
"When sickness comes to a country and leaves it again it goes to the aged, for they sit always with sickness and death for a companion.
"When war comes to a country and leaves it again it goes to those men who have more than one wife, for in their houses quarrels never cease."
When the Sultan heard these words he was very pleased, and gave his daughter to the stranger.
