Once upon a time, in a city in the far West, there lived a girl named Fatima. She was the daughter of a prosperous spinner. One day her father said to her:
“My child, prepare for a journey. We are going traveling. I have business on the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps there you will meet a handsome young man with a good future, who will fall in love with you and whom you will marry.”
And so they set out, traveling from island to island. The father attended to his business affairs, while Fatima spent her time dreaming of her future husband. Once, while they were sailing toward China, a terrible storm struck, and the ship began to sink. Fatima lost consciousness and was cast ashore by the waves, not far from Alexandria. Her father and all the others on board perished, and she was left alone, without any support.
The shipwreck and her long time in the open sea affected her so deeply that she retained only fragmentary memories of her previous life.
When she came to, she stood up and walked along the shore. Soon she came upon the family of a weaver. The people were poor, but full of compassion. They took her into their modest home and taught her their craft.
Thus her second life began. For a year or two she lived with them in complete happiness and was content with her fate. But one day, when she went down to the shore, she was seized by slave traders, taken aboard a ship, and carried away together with other captives.
Fatima’s bitter pleas and lamentations awakened not a trace of pity in them. They took her to Istanbul to sell her as a slave.
At the slave market there were several buyers. One of them was looking for a worker for his workshop producing ship masts. Fatima’s miserable appearance attracted his attention, and wishing to ease her fate, he bought the girl, thinking that she would be better off with him than with another master.
He took Fatima home and intended her to serve his wife. But at home he was met with sad news: the ship carrying the goods into which he had invested all his capital had been captured by pirates. Now he could no longer afford to keep workers, and he, together with his wife and Fatima, had to take up the production of masts themselves.
Grateful for her master’s kindness, Fatima worked so diligently that soon he granted her freedom, and she became his trusted associate and helper. Thus her third life began, and she felt completely happy. One day her former master said to her:
“Fatima, I want you to go as my agent to the island of Java with a cargo of masts and sell them there profitably.”
And so Fatima set out on another voyage. But near the shores of China, a powerful typhoon struck the ship and sank it. By a miracle, the girl survived once again and regained consciousness on an unknown shore. When she came to her senses, she began to weep bitterly over her unhappy fate. Each time her life seemed to be approaching prosperity, merciless destiny shattered all her hopes.
“Why does this happen?” she cried. “Whatever I undertake, inevitable failure awaits me. Why do so many misfortunes befall me?”
But no one answered her… and she stood up and walked wherever her eyes led her.
Although no one in China had ever heard of Fatima or knew of her trials, everyone knew an ancient legend that one day a foreign woman would come to their land and make a tent for their emperor. Since no one in China knew how to make tents, all awaited with great curiosity the fulfillment of this prophecy.
So that this woman would not be missed when she arrived, every Chinese emperor sent messengers thirty times a year throughout all cities and villages, instructing them to bring to the capital any foreign women they encountered.
When Fatima reached the nearest coastal town, the imperial decree concerning foreign women was being proclaimed at that very moment. The people noticed that she was a foreigner and took her to the emperor’s messengers.
They brought Fatima to the court and led her into the throne hall. The Son of Heaven asked her:
“Girl, will you be able to make us a tent?”
“I think I will be able to,” Fatima replied.
They gave her a room, and she immediately set to work. First, she needed rope. But no one even knew what rope was. Then Fatima, recalling her first craft, gathered flax and braided rope. Next, she asked for strong cloth, but in all of China no such cloth could be found. Remembering what she had learned from the Alexandrian weavers, she wove sturdy fabric. Finally, to complete the work, she needed poles—but none could be found in the whole kingdom. Then she used the skill she had acquired in Istanbul while making masts and fashioned strong poles.
When she finished, she recalled all the tents she had seen during her wanderings around the world and finally assembled the tent.
When this marvel was shown to the emperor, he was so delighted that he promised to fulfill any wish of Fatima’s. She wished to remain in China, where she soon married a wonderful prince. They lived a long and happy life together and left behind numerous descendants.
(From a book of parables)
This is one of my favorite tales. I especially love telling it to people who, in their search for a professional calling, change several different professions. As the story of Fatima shows, this happens because it is the way a person learns how to “make tents.” It is the price one pays to learn how to do something that only they can do. The problem is that we understand this only at the very end — when the time comes to assemble all the different parts.
