The Doctor, the Rich Man and His Daughter
Once upon a time, in a rich town where mansions with golden towers rose up, there lived the wealthiest merchant of the East. The only being this man loved in the world was his lovely daughter with silken hair and gazelle eyes. But on a merciless winter day, the young girl took to her bed and fell into a grave illness for which no cure could be found. Whenever the merchant saw the pale face of his daughter, he struggled helplessly in tears in his palace-like mansion. The physicians who came from the four corners of the country could find no remedy at all for this mysterious malady. At last, from distant lands, a young doctor in humble clothes but of great skill arrived at the mansion. In his despair, the rich man begged the doctor and made him a great promise.
"If you save my only daughter from this merciless affliction, I will give you half of my fortune and the hand of my daughter," he said. The clever doctor understood at once that the girl's illness was not of the body, but a sorrow born of loneliness. Together with a special syrup he prepared from healing herbs, he told her tales full of hope and gave her back her cheerfulness. Within a few days the young girl recovered completely and rose from her bed smiling. But when the miserly merchant saw that his daughter had regained her health, he began to regret the great promise he had given. Instead of giving the doctor the fortune that was his due, the rich man held out only a few worthless purses of gold. "My daughter's recovery was written in fate anyway, this much is more than enough for you," he said, and did not keep his word.
Faced with this injustice of the greedy merchant, the dignified doctor smiled calmly, without any anger at all. "It was not only my medicine that healed, but the hope of the honorable word you gave," he said, and refused the gold. The daughter, who witnessed the merchant's injustice, felt a deep shame at this conduct of her father. The young girl objected to her father and said that he had to keep his word, otherwise she would leave the mansion. Shaken by the fear of losing his daughter, the merchant understood his mistake, bowed before the doctor and handed over the worth he deserved. Keeping a given word is a person's most precious treasure and true honor. A word leaves the mouth only once.