Give Her Everything

Once, there was a very poor man named Ismal. He and his wife worked long hours to put food on the table, but such luxuries were expensive and they never had much.

One day, on his way to the market, Ismal began to cry. He cried for his wife, for his home, for their lives together. He longed to give her everything. As he knelt on the road, head in his hands, he felt something cold and metallic against his cheeks. Sitting up, he was amazed to find gold coins in his hands. He looked them over again and again, until he was satisfied they were real.

At the market, Ismal bought enough bread, sweet meat, and wine for him and his wife to eat like royalty. When she saw this, she was shocked.

For the next few years, Ismal continued to produce golden tears. One day when he got home, his wife greeted him, saying she was pregnant. He cried tears of joy, the golden coins piling around their feet. That night, Ismal lay awake, thinking of what he could do for their new baby.

Months later, she was put into the hospital - the pregnancy had began to cause her unusual pain - and the bills began to grow overwhelming. Ismal grew worried, fearing his tears weren’t enough to keep his wife healthy and himself alive.

The day after she gave birth, she came home, proud mother to a new baby girl. When she opened the door, she screamed; Ismal was on the floor, cutting away at himself with a knife. His body was covered in scars, his face, bruised and bloody from his own fists. Gold coins covered the floor of the house, in mounds as tall as herself.

“There,” Ismal said, “now we can give her everything.”