The Patient Stone

Once upon a time, there lived a man, his wife and their only daughter, Mina.
One morning on her way to school, Mina heard a mysterious voice in her ear, 'Mina will marry a dead man.' Mina was very frightened; she went to her parents and explained what she had heard. They became very sad because they knew it was the sign of a bad event, so they decided to leave the city. They sold whatever they had and left the city. They went and went and went until reached a desert where there was no sign of life. There they saw a big nearby garden. They said to themselves, 'We must go there and knock on the door, maybe someone opens the door and gives us something to eat and drink.' Then Mina went and knocked on the door.
At once the door opened and as soon as Mina entered the garden, the door closed and disappeared as if there wasn't any door at all.
Now her parents were outside and she was inside. They cried and cried but there was no result.
Hours passed by. They thought, 'Now the mysterious words have come true and we can't do anything for her.' So they decided to leave there.
Poor Mina cried and cried until she fell asleep. Next morning she got up and began to walk in the garden.
There she saw a wonderful palace.
She entered the palace; there were 7 rooms all joining together. The rooms were full of food and gold. Then she reached the seventh room, opened the door and entered.

What a sight!

To her great surprise, she saw a charming young man. She looked carefully and saw that his body was full of needles. There was a paper on a shelf containing these
words, If anyone stays above this man's bed, eats a nut, drinks some water, recites this prayer, blows at him, and pulls out one of these needles for 40 nights and days, he will wake up.'
For thirty five nights and days, Mina did as it was written on the paper, but she was very sad and tired.
Suddenly she heard the sound of flute from out of the garden. She went on the roof and saw a group of gypsies singing and dancing.
Mina cried, ' for God's sake, send one of your girls to me; I'll give you whatever you wish.'
They sent one of the girls to her. Mina pulled her up the wall, took her to the bathroom and changed her dress. Then she gave her some good food and said, 'Stay here and be my friend. I am very alone.' Then she told her the story but didn't mention the young man in the seventh room.
Mina without letting the gypsy girl see her, entered the room, withdrew the curtain, did the same things, recited the prayer and pulled out one of the needles. So mischievous was the gypsy girl that she understood that something was going on in the seventh room and that Mina was hiding something from her. So once, in the depth of darkness, she crept up to the room, peeped through the curtain, and saw Mina reciting some prayer aloud. She also saw whatever she was doing. For three days, she did this until she learned the prayer by heart.
On the thirty ninth day when Mina was sound asleep the gypsy girl woke up early in the morning and entered the room. She recited the prayer and pulled out the last needle.
All of a sudden, the young man sneezed, woke up and said, "Where am I? Who are you?
"How did you come here?" asked the young man again. Then, the gypsy girl related to him the story, which she had heard from Mina from start to the end, passing
herself off as Mina, saying that Mina was her maid.
"Well, will you marry me?" he asked.
Mina woke up and observed that all her plans were rendered to ashes. A heart- rending sigh issued from her. Holding her hands up to the heaven, she cried, "Oh God!
You are my witness. Is this reward for my pains? Is this what that mysterious voice meant?"
She yielded to be the maid of the gypsy girl, thus the gypsy girl became the lady of the palace and sent Mina into the kitchen.
The young man and the gypsy girl got married, but Mina kept silent, and continued acting as the maid. One day the young man decided to go on a trip. As he was about to set off, he said to his wife, "What do you wish me to bring you as a souvenir?" "Bring me a satin dress!" said the gypsy girl.
What about you, Mina? He asked. Mina said" Bring me a patient stone."
The young man set off. His trip lasted six months. Now in all this time the gypsy girl constantly beat Mina who wept all the time.
After the six months passed, the young man decided to return.
He had bought what his wife had asked him, but he had forgotten to buy the patient stone. When he was walking in the desert, he struck a rock with his foot and remembered that the maid had asked him for a patient stone.
He told himself, "The maid has asked for a patient stone. If I don't take it to her, she will get upset."
So he went back to the bazaar and asked and asked from store to store until he found a storekeeper, who said, I shall find you one." The storekeeper said," Anyone who wants the patient stone, obviously has a sorrowful heart. at the same night, when she gets the patient stone, she will go to a secret corner and relate all her story to the stone; after she tells of all her miseries, you must listen carefully and
when she says:
Patient stone, patient stone
Are you patient or am I
Either you burst or I will!
You have to go and seize her waist with your hands; otherwise she burst and dies.
So the young man decided to do as he was told. Having obtained the patient stone, he went back home and gave the patient stone to the maid.
As soon as Mina did the house chores, she went to the kitchen, washed the floor, lit a candle and put it in a corner.
Then she put the patient stone before her and related to it all the afflictions which she had suffered, from start to finish, that she had heard the voice that had said" Mina is destined to be the wife of a dead man"; that she had fled the city; that she had nursed the young man and about the pains and agonies which the gypsy girl had inflicted upon her. Afterwards she said:
Patient stone, patient stone!
Are you patient or am I?
Either you burst or I will!
The moment she said this, the young man opened the kitchen door, went in, seized her waist with hands, and said to the patient stone," You burst!"
In a split second, the patient stone burst and a drop of blood spurted out of it.
Next morning, the young man had the pigtail of the gypsy girl tied to a horse's tail, and the horse raced away.
Then he had the city decked out for seven days and nights and married Mina and lived happily ever after.