The patient stone (Sange Sabur)

Azerbaijan Version

Once upon a time, there lived a man, his wife and their only darling pampered, daughter called Fatimah Sultan. Whenever she went to the well to draw water, she would hear a sound from the depth of the well saying, "Oh Fatimah Sultan! You will take care of a patient for forty days". She related the story to her mother only to get the answer that whenever you want to draw water just say the name of God and don't worry. One day Fatimah Sultan took a very beautiful bunch of flowers from water, followed it until she reached a desert, finding there a mansion with forty rooms. One full of wheat, one with rice, one with nuts and other delicacies and yet another full of gold; in short each room was ample with one commodity. In the fortieth room she found a sick youth lying unconsciously in bed and took care of him for thirty-nine days. On the fortieth day she gave a huge amount of gold and silver to a group of passing by gypsies to buy a gypsy girl in return for her equal weight in gold and silver. She made the girl to sit in her place so that she might go and wash up herself in preparation for the youth wake up. The gypsy girl reached for the jar of medicine, from above the patient's head, but it fell down and shattered and the smell of medicine brought the sick unconscious youth to. Upon this the gypsy girl passed herself off as Fatimah Sultan, and the poor girl became their slave. One day as the youth was setting off to town, Fatimah Sultan told him:" bring me a Patient Stone, and may God erect a lofty mountain ahead of you, together with a neghareh mountain behind you in case you do not care fulfilling my wish!"
The youth went to town but forgot all about the stone; thus on the way back home he saw an sky scraping mountain in his way, and on deciding to return sees neghareh mountain behind, so that he was unable to go ahead or return. This reminds him of not having bought the stone requested by the gypsy slave (the real Fatimah Sultan). He prays so that God might open the way and he may return to town to buy the stone. After returning to town at every store he got negative answer, because no shopkeeper had it in stock. After searching a lot, and just as he was going lose hope, he caught the sight of a stall, with a white bearded old man sitting in a corner. "Uncle, do you have Patient Stone?" he asks, only to be answered, "Yes but it is not for sell." The youth adds "I have a slave at home who has asked it as a souvenir and I want to fulfill her wish." The old man says" Anyone who wants the patient stone, obviously has a sorrowful heart and this stone has its own rite, and if not observed in proper care the poor slave will die." On the youth's promise to observe the rite, the old man agrees to sell the stone to him adding that:" when the slave goes to the room to shut her up you stand on watch, keeping a jug full of water in your hand and as she relates all her story to the stone you wait; 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 shatter the filled jug on the ground shouting you burst! And it will burst."
The youth carefully what the old man had said and put them in practice after returning home. When Fatimah Sultan related her story to the stone, finally saying: "Either you burst or I will!" the youth standing behind the door, hearing what the girl was saying, smashed the water jug on the ground shouting "You burst Oh Patient Stone!", thereafter showing himself to the girl ensuring her that he has learnt her true identity...