And on the third evening the prince asked the three witnesses to tell him a tale to pass the time, but they refused. Then he said to them: “And if I ask you something, will you be so kind as to reply?” “Perhaps . .” they said.
So, the prince began another tale: “Three people were walking together—a nobleman, his wife, and a servant. Evening drew near, and the sun went down, and the three were compelled to spend the night in a remote field. During the night, they were attacked by highwaymen, who robbed them and beheaded the nobleman and the servant, and his wife alone escaped. She sat down and wept and waited for daylight.
“Meanwhile she heard two owls talking in the branches of a tree. One said: ‘Oh, my goodness, what a terrible thing has happened to the poor nobleman and his servant, and now the nobleman’s wife is very miserable.’
“‘Yes,’ said the second owl, but if someone were to take some leaves from this tree, pound them, squeeze out their juice, and sprinkle it on the bodies, the dead men would surely be revived.’
“Now when the woman heard this, she hastened to pick some leaves of that tree and crushed and squeezed them, as the owls had said. Then she put the decapitated heads next to the bodies and sprinkled them with the juice, and they were revived. But when it was daylight, the woman saw that she had made a terrible mistake: she had connected the nobleman’s head to the servant’s body and the servant’s head to the nobleman’s body, and the error could not be corrected.
“The two men began to argue over the woman. The noble man’s head, connected to the servant’s body, said: ‘She is my wife and I am her husband, as my face reveals.’ And the servant’s head, connected to the nobleman’s body, said: ‘She is my wife, as my body clearly shows.’
“The question is this,” said the prince to the three witnesses. “To whom does the woman belong, to the nobleman’s head connected to the servant’s body, or to the servant’s head connected to the nobleman’s body?”
The witnesses said: “It is too complicated a matter for us to decide. It can be solved only by men of judgment.”
At this point the princess broke in, for she could not contain herself any longer, and she said: ”The woman belongs to the nobleman’s head connected to the servant’s body for the head is the repository of all memory and knowledge, and it can be seen by all, whereas the rest of the body is covered with clothing.”
The prince said: “Thank you, your highness, for your excellent reply, which is surely correct. Now, let us sleep and await tomorrow.”
The next day the three witnesses testified that the princess had indeed spoken to the prince, and no one could still doubt it. Then the king arranged a lavish wedding for the princess and prince, and she returned with the prince to his country with a royal salute.
So it was that the prince and princess lived together in love all the days of their lives. And the prince often entertained his wife with tales, and the princess did not hesitate to speak the words of love she felt for him.
—Yemen: oral tradition
This is part 4 of 4
So ends the Tale of the Silent Princess
May all your tales end with Shalom (peace)
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Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. (Joel 1:3)
