Once upon a time, there was a man on the island of Socotra who had a daughter. She was the most beautiful girl that people had ever seen. Her intelligence and wisdom made her more beautiful and attractive, too. Her father loved her very much. He was afraid for her very much, and he got even more when he saw that many men only proposed to her for her beauty. Then, the father decided not to marry off his daughter but to a young, intelligent, witty, skillful, brave, and decent man to protect her and support her in their lives. Whoever proposed to his daughter would be set to test how high his moral character was and how high his intelligence was. The number of suitors was huge, although they all failed to convince her father and pass the tests.
A king on the island married off his son three times. Each time the son divorced without informing his father about the reasons, his father fired him and threw him out of the tribe. The young man went out of town searching for a job. He got a job as a shepherd. One day, the man’s wife saw the shepherd while he was out herding sheep. She was greatly impressed by his dedication and honesty, especially with the increasing number of sheep since he worked with her husband; however, the woman was worried that he might leave the work for her husband. Thus, she thought of marrying him off to her stepdaughter so she could let him stay with them and continue herding the sheep.
The stepmother pitched the idea to her stepdaughter; however, she refused it.
“I will not marry him or anyone else until my father travels with him to find out the truth about him,” she said to her stepmother.
The stepmother pitched the idea to her husband about his daughter’s marriage clause. The father agreed to the marriage clause and went to the young man.
“Tomorrow, do not go out herding sheep. You and I will travel for a few days on an errand!” the father told him.
They traveled together. On their way, they passed by sheep.
“What more sheep? What less sheep?” the young man said to him.
The man wondered at his speech, but he made no answer. Then they passed by other sheep.
“What more sheep? What less sheep?” the young man said to him.
“What a fool! Perhaps my daughter realized his stupidity, and thus she asked me to travel with him to find out the truth about him,” The man said to himself.
After that, they passed by a grave.
“It contains the living and the dead!” the young man said to him.
They passed by a beautiful grove.
“I don’t know whether this grove is green or dry! The young man said to him.
The man was very surprised, but he didn’t say anything.
“No matter what happens, I will not marry him off to my daughter. Traveling helps you figure out who people really are. And this very young man who’d not make a better husband for my daughter at all,” he said to himself.
After they returned from the journey, the father went to his daughter and told her all that had happened on the journey.
“He was a good young man, father,” the girl told him.
“How come?” her father asked her.
“As for the first sheep, there were more lambs than ewes. As for the second sheep, there were more ewes than lambs. As for his talk about the people of the grave, he meant that whoever left offspring is actually still alive, and whoever left no offspring is dead. As for the grove, if the owner bought and planted the trees with his own money, it would be green. But if the owner bought and planted the trees for a debt, it would actually be dry.” the girl said to her father.
Despite the daughter’s explanations of what happened, the father was not convinced and disapproved of the marriage.
“My daughter is the most beloved and dearest one to my heart, so there should be another test,” he said to himself.
“As for the first sheep, there were more lambs than ewes. As for the second sheep, there were more ewes than lambs. As for his talk about the people of the grave, he meant that whoever left offspring is actually still alive, and whoever left no offspring is actually dead. As for the grove, if the owner bought and planted the trees with his own money, it would be green. But if the owner bought and planted the trees for a debt, it would actually be dry.” the girl said to her father.
The young man was confused about what to do and how to do it. Because he could not return home with the sheep alone, if he left the sheep and their little sheep, all of them would get lost, and there would be no place to keep the little sheep in order for the sheep to remain with their little sheep in the same place.
While he was confused about the matter, an idea came to his mind. He dug a pit for each little sheep to prevent them from getting out to their mother. He dug fifty pits for each little sheep and put them all in each pit. As the sun was setting, he finished the act of digging, put the little sheep inside, and locked them before their mothers.
The young man came back without the sheep. The father was anxiously awaiting his arrival. When he saw him empty-handed, he thought the young man had failed the test and lost the sheep.
The young man returned to his room to sleep. Early the next morning, he woke up and woke up the owner of the sheep.
“Let’s go to the place where I left the sheep. Maybe there is one sheep left to go back with us,” he told him.
When they arrived at the wasteland, they found all the sheep had remained in their place. Some of them parked, calling to their little ones, shouting from where no one could see them.
The father was surprised at what that young man had done. At the same time, he wondered how the young man, with his clever plan, could keep all the sheep safe!
“Please take back your sheep. I am going to a new land. Please pass the little sheep to their mothers and don’t confuse them with others,” the young man told him while still surprised.
The father had gone mad.
“Please don’t leave me. I don’t know where I can find the little sheep or which one is the mother of each of them,” the father told him.
At that very instant, the young man realized that he had passed the tests and that his father was delighted with him. Therefore, he got up, took out the little sheep, and gave each mother her little sheep.
The father was satisfied, and he had been even more impressed by the young man after he had passed the tests. Then the father requested that he marry his beautiful daughter and not leave the land. Accordingly, the young man agreed to the marriage. He lived with his uncle and wife, and they worked together, herding sheep.
