Hi, everyone! How was your day? I have a story to share. So, bring your seats and mats to the fireplace, listen attentively, and may the nightingales sing us a lullaby when we retire to bed.

Once upon a time, there lived a wise man named Mamad. He never lied. All the people in the land, even those who lived twenty days away, knew about him.

The king heard about Mamad and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked:

” Mamad, is it true that you have never lied?”

” It’s true.”

“And you will never lie in your life?”

” I’m sure of that.”

“Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning, and it gets on your tongue easily.”

Several days passed, and the king called Mamad once again. A big crowd had gathered; the king was about to go hunting. He held his horse by the mane, and his left foot was already in the stirrup. He ordered Mamad:

“Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then.”

Mamad bowed and went to the queen. Then the king laughed and said:

“We won’t go hunting, and now Mamad will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will laugh at his expense.”

But the wise Mamad went to the palace and said:

“Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won’t.”

“Tell me, will he come, or won’t he?” asked the queen.

“I don’t know whether he put his right foot in the stirrup or put his left foot on the ground after I left.”

Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen:

“The wise Mamad, who never lies, lied to you yesterday.”

But the queen told him what Mamad had said. The king realized that the wise man never lies and says only what he has seen with his own eyes.