Grant Me One Wish
"My daughter and my science are the love of my life. Just grant me one wish," asked the old mathematician looking directly at the king's eyes and bowing his head with respect for the ruler.
"And what would that wish be? Don't try my patience," the king said this time.
"That you free my only daughter. That you promise for your kingdom to let her return to me if my calculations please you, and I undo the camel’s riddle," the old mathematician requested.
The king pondered about the old man's proposition. Then, he paced for a moment. He looked everywhere and nowhere for some time. He spoke again.
"Fine, be it like you ask. Very well then, as you wish it will be done, old man. I'll free your daughter. I’ll pay you the reward offered for solving the riddle. And you’ll return to my court and be our mathematician again if you wish that too. That is if your estimations are correct. But if you’re wrong! The king paused. “Your daughter will remain in service of this palace. You won't see her again. And you will live forever in my darkest dungeon. Forever! The king’s threatened the old mathematician. The old mathematician face paled. He loved his daughter more than anything in his life. She was more precious than gold and all gems.
He loved her more than his own life and he wished the king had asked for his head instead. Losing his only daughter, he could never stand, the old wise man said to himself with great sadness.
“Well, what do you want to say to me,“ the king asked impatiently.
"I shall find the camel's door and undo the camel’s riddle too," the mathematician said. He worked many calculations in his head.
“I promise today and hear me you all my maids and servants of my court this oath I say.
“I the king of Egypt today I promise this mathematician today. I will full fill my oath to him for I am the king of Egypt," the King said loud for all to hear.
“I have a petition to make. I request to talk to every servant. All who heard the story of the beggar and the talking camel," the old mathematician asked the king.
The King clapped his hands. Every servant was commanded to come to the old mathematician. A day later or so, the wise old man had spoken to every one of the servants. The old mathematician relayed to the King what he learned from the servants. Many said the camel was white and as a cloud and he could fly. Others said he said the camel was tall and fat and many men the king would need to drag the camel with them. And so, the story went on and on. By the time the all finished saying what they heard, the camel was ten feet tall, his coat was of many colors and snout the largest snout ever.
But in the end, the old mathematician knew what he was looking for and he put all the rumors together and dismissed them all. "Humm, where do I begin? The mathematician said to himself as he stroked his beard.
“What is it now? The king asked in a bad mood for he was an impatient ruler.
"The camel must be in the last year of his life. His coat is getting older. It's losing its color. He's wandered close to five years in his own time in the desert. This means many years. It must reach the door or it will die," said the mathematician.
“What else? Don't speak to me in riddles and explain, "demanded the King again. The mathematician needed to be careful. He wanted to choose the right words.
He would lose his daughter if he was wrong and end in a dark dungeon too. But remembering something he had written many years before, he said I know, I know.
“It’s a riddle written by my hand on a corner of an old scroll I found it. Let me read this for you this conundrum. For all you who can see without seeing. For those who hear without their ears, but your heart. Use your mind. Use your imagination for a short moment of your life. See without your eyes. You will find what you want. I have something that might help us to undo the ancient camel’s riddle nobody knows how to read. But I need to talk to the children in this palace.
“So, be it,” the king said impatiently and clapped his hand one more time. The old mathematician rehearsed the riddle in his mind and said it to himself for the umpteenth time. Uhmmm, he read:
"When the sun grows older and hides behind the great river. A pyramid shall cast its shadows over the land of the Pharaohs. Look no more. Stop and look beyond here and there. This and that your eyes may see. Its secret is there!
“A girl and a boy are kind and brave. Both siblings are from a cold land! His hair golden nugget is his; hers like iron on fire will be.
They'll find the door. They’re both kind and brave indeed but both not from afar and will not look like other children in this kingdom! In the shadows, they will see the camel’s passage at once. Measure the distance from the Death Sea and much more! It goes from there to the river that flows in front of Thee. Look at the moon.
“Its light will fall over the three Triangles. Follow the waters to the hidden door from the longest river. Look at the many angles and the casting of their shadows. Look at the moon and the light along the mighty Pyramid. Look at each side for it was built by the Pharaohs in front of Thee. Five years make only one. The last day is the key to this riddle.
One day and one month to the door will be on the five years but is one. Read, read, read; he who reads well the riddle, the door will find for Thee. Uhmm,” the old mathematician said again to himself pondering.
The king got impatient again. The mathematician went on to say. “I've read this riddle a thousand times. It has been chanted and repeated a million more. And only now I think to have a possible answer. I've stopped believing in the Talking Camel even as a child. The science of men has blinded me. Only those who believe, like children,” he said to himself, could undo the riddle.
He knew then what to do. He asked the king to gather all the children in the king's palace as he said before. He asked to bring the children to him. The king's five children were gathered in front of the old mathematician. He sat and asked the children to sit around him too. He read the riddle to each of the children. Each offered an answer to the riddle. One by one, the answers flowed from the children's mouths.
The pyramids of Giza were, of course, the three triangles in the land of the Pharaohs, one of the children said. The river in Front of Thee is the Nile river flowing through not far from the city to the Death Sea, the second child guessed correctly. It would take one month and one day to arrive from Cairo to Giza, the third child guessed too. Traveling measured by days on the river total exactly thirty days and one day, the fourth child said and he was correct.
The most precious clue came from the mouth of the littlest of the boys. He had been born in a leap year. Even five years old, he still was only one. When was asked how old he was, he said.
My mom says I was born five years ago, but even I’ll be five my many years only count for one! The door would close, of course on the last days of the month, or five days from now.
Then, he babbled the answers as he walked to the king to tell him all about.
"I have the answer and I've not failed you, great king. But I'm afraid time is not our side. The camel's door will open on the largest of the pyramids of Giza. It will on any of its angles.
“Every day of this month when the full moonlight falls over it, "the old mathematician said with confidence.
"And why are you so worried then. Explain to me now.” The king demanded.
"But your king there only a couple of days left for the door. Even your fastest horses would never reach Giza at full trot, "the mathematician said and went on. "At the last seven moons, a sign will come to the camel to see the door," he said.
The king gave orders to seek and find the camel before the signs were gone. One hundred of his men got ready to go. All men would be riding the fastest of their horses. Then, they all left galloping at a full trot to find the camel and the children.
“You will travel with me,” the king said pointing a finger at the mathematician.