Once, a saint gave Sheikh Chilli’s mother some ashes to be given to Sheikh with a goat’s milk to make him wise. Happy, Sheikh’s mother sent him to a fair in the neighbourhood, to buy a goat. Sheikh set out, wondering how ash could grow brains? At the fair, Sheikh saw a man surrounded by a crowd. The man had many herbs and dried roots and said he could cure any disease. Sheikh Chilli thought there was no harm in consulting this herb man. He went up close to the herb man and whispered, “I want to buy a goat. My mother believes that my stupidity will be cured by a goat’s milk.” Smiling at Sheikh, the herb man told him that he would give him the bark of wisdom tree, so he would not need a goat’s milk. Sheikh bought the bark. He tasted it and realised he had been fooled; it was cinnamon! When confronted, the herb man exclaimed that Sheikh had already become wise, so it was wisdom bark indeed!
Sheikh Becomes Wise
