Once upon a time, three brothers inherited a small ship from their father who was a good man. One day, while the ship was about to sail with the passengers on board, the ship’s owners saw a sheikh holding his luggage.

One of the three brothers came close to him and asked him: “Do you want to travel sheikh?” The sheikh replied: “Yes, my son, but I don’t have any money now.” “Your father, God bless his soul, used to carry me to the other shore and never took money from me until I was back,” he added.

The young man said: “You’re welcome on our ship. You will travel with us for free.”

The sheikh got aboard, and the ship sailed.

The sheikh, who was a carpenter, wanted to make a small box in which he could put his goods. He gathered some wood and started to hammer. Suddenly, the hammer fell from his hand and made a hole in the ship. This allowed the water to penetrate into the ship. The sheikh tried to block up the hole, but in vain.

When the passengers saw the water leaking, they started to yell asking for help. They tried to block up the hole, but it wouldn’t work.

The water kept flowing into the ship. The passengers were scared and blamed the sheikh saying: “You’re responsible for this disaster. We will all drown because of you.”

Afterwards, the passengers were happy to see some ships coming from afar. Unfortunately, the ships belonged to some pirates who stole other people’s ships. The pirates saw the water penetrating the ship and said: “It’s an old ship. It will sink soon.” And they left.

The passengers were happy to get away from those bad people and thanked the sheikh, for he was the reason that they were not robbed. The sheikh said: “We must save the ship from sinking.” “Thank God, and ask him to help us block up the ship’s hole,” he added.

While the passengers were busy emptying the ship of the water, they saw a big bird holding a band of linen in his beak. He was surrounded by some other birds who were trying to steal the band from him. Suddenly, the band of linen fell into the ship. One of the brothers took the band and said: “These linen strings are the best way to block up ships’ holes.” And he blocked up the hole with the linen.

The sheikh said: “God answered our prayers. We should spend some money on charity.”

The passengers collected ten dinars and put them in the ship’s locker to spend them on the poor later on.

The ship anchored on the other shore, and the passengers got down. They saw a woman crying and sobbing. The sheikh asked her why she was crying. The woman told him that she used to spin some strings of linen on a small loom and sell them so that she could afford to raise her children, and that while she was drinking from the well, a bird flew down and stole the band of linen that she spun and flew up in the sky. “I was supposed to sell it and feed my kids with the money I would get,” the woman said.

The sheikh asked the woman: “How much were you going to earn?” The woman replied: “One dinar which would be enough for one week.”

People were surprised to hear the woman’s story.

The sheikh said: “This woman is the owner of the linen which was the reason we escaped drowning. She deserves the money we collected.”

The ship’s owners gave the ten dinars to the woman who said: “That’s too much! Ten dinars! Thanks God!

 Thanks God!”

Finally, the passengers said good bye to the woman and her kids, and they embarked on the ship returning home. The woman and her kids stood on the shore waving to the passengers and saying: “Go with God’s protection!”