The King and the Genie
Long ago, beside an old forest with cool waters, there was a splendid but gloomy palace. In this palace there lived an ambitious king, known for his arrogant manners and inclined to evil. This ambitious king, who wanted to spread fear from land to land, turned to the dark arts and summoned a powerful genie before him. His aim was to frighten the wise people in the far eastern lands and to seize that country. At the king's command the genie spread his pitch black wings, glided through the darkness of the night and set out on the road. After the genie had blown like a storm and crossed the mountains, he came upon an old dervish resting beneath a mighty plane tree.
The old dervish, completely unaware of the dangers around him, was absorbed in a sincere prayer that flowed from his heart. The genie wanted to fall upon the dervish and frighten him, but he could not advance even a single step. An invisible shield of light nailed the body of the dark creature to its place. Days chased the night and nights chased the day, yet the genie could not step outside that holy circle. When the dervish had finished his worship in peace and stood up, he noticed the genie and looked at him with a smile. "No power that carries no sincerity in its heart can pull down the fortress of goodness," the wise man whispered.
The genie, whose invisible chains were loosened, drew back in fear and returned helplessly to the palace. When the arrogant king saw the genie who could not carry out his order, he foamed with rage. "Why did you fail in the duty I gave you, which army barred your way?" he thundered. The genie bowed his head and said, "Neither swords stopped me nor crowded armies." "The sincere prayer of a single man and the unshakable faith in his heart made all my dark power useless." The arrogant king, who understood the truth, froze on his throne with the pain of defeat. Every sincere deed done with a clean conscience brings to nothing even the greatest traps of evil. He who sows the wind reaps the storm.