Once upon a time, a man had really bad luck. No matter what he tried, things always seemed to go wrong. He tried farming, but his crops dried up before he could harvest them. He tried trading, but he lost the little money he had invested. He even tried traveling and looking for work in other towns, but he could never find a job that lasted. Yet nothing seemed to improve his life. Life always seemed to push this man back to where he started. That was very frustrating for him.
One day, when he was really frustrated, he thought to himself: “If I just keep waiting, nothing will ever change. Fate must be against me. I should find Fate and ask why my life is like this.” So he packed his bag and set off on an unusual journey. Days passed as he walked, and then he came across a famished, exhausted wolf. The wolf stepped in front of him and asked: “Where are you off to, human?” The man replied: “To find Fate. I wish to sit with him and ask why there are so many unfortunate events in my life.”
The wolf then responded: “If you come across Fate, please ask if he can help with my permanent headache. I have tried everything, but nothing has worked.” The man said, “Okay, I will ask,” and continued on his way. As he walked on, he entered a chaotic city. The streets were filled with injured soldiers and civilians. The king had just fled a lost war. The king stopped the man and asked: “Where are you going?”
The man explained. The king replied: “If you meet with Fate, ask him for me why I lose all of my wars. My soldiers are brave, yet somehow every battle ends in defeat. I want to know why.” The man felt sorry for the king and continued on. After several days, he reached a large ocean. No bridge and no boats. There was no way to cross. He sat down, hopeless, on the shore.
Suddenly, a giant fish jumped out of the water and asked, “Why are you so upset?” The man replied, “I am trying to find Fate, but I need to get to the other side of the ocean and have no way to do it.” The fish replied, “I will carry you to the other side, but you must promise to ask Fate a question for me. My nose itches all the time, and I want to know why.” The man agreed. The fish carried him across the ocean on its back.
After crossing the ocean, he traveled through mountains and deserts until he reached a garden. Inside the garden, a man stood with a shovel on his shoulder, watering some fields. Only a few plots of land were watered, while many others were dry and cracked. The gardener asked: “Where are you going, man?” The man said: “I am going to find Fate.” The gardener smiled and said: “And what will you tell him when you find him?”
The man angrily said: “I will curse him for everything that has happened to me.” The gardener said: “I am Fate.” The man was shocked. Then he asked: “What are these fields?” Fate said: “These are the shares of people’s luck and fortune.” The man asked: “And mine?” Fate pointed to a tiny, dry, cracked patch of land.
The man stared at it for a moment. It was the smallest and driest field in the entire garden. He suddenly understood why he had spent so many years feeling unlucky. But instead of complaining, he picked up the shovel and took water from the fields, pouring it onto his own plot. The dry earth absorbed the water immediately. He kept working until the soil softened and the first signs of green appeared. For the first time, he felt that perhaps his life was not completely out of his hands. He stayed until it became green and alive again.
Then he said: “Now I have three questions to ask you. First, why does the fish’s nose itch all the time? Second, why does the king keep losing every war? And finally, what can the wolf do to cure its terrible headache?”
Fate said: “The giant fish has a jewel stuck in its nose. If someone hits it on the head, the jewel will fall out. The fish will be cured.
“The king is actually a woman who has been living as a man to protect her kingdom. She feared her people would never accept a woman as their ruler, so she hid her true identity. But living a lie has made her unhappy and afraid to trust the people around her. She can be a great ruler, but she cannot reach her full potential while hiding who she is. She must reveal the truth, find someone she trusts to stand beside her, and learn to rule as herself. Only then will she have the confidence and freedom to lead her people and win her wars.
“As for the wolf, the headache will be cured only after eating a human brain.”
The man thanked him and started his journey back. In the sea, the giant fish was waiting. When it heard the answer, it said: “Then hit my head and take the jewel. You will become very rich.” The man refused: “I do not need it anymore. My own field is already green and full of water.”
No matter how much the fish begged, he would not agree. The fish reminded him that the jewel could change his entire life. But the man only shook his head and walked away. Then he met the desperate king, who told him what Fate had said about her. He explained that she was living in disguise and that she needed to be herself and share the responsibility of ruling with someone she trusted.
The desperate king offered him the throne and even marriage. Again, the man refused: “I do not want a kingdom. My own field is enough for me.” The king begged. It was useless. The man could not see that the offer was another chance to change his life. All he could think about was the little field he had managed to save.
Finally, he met the wolf again. The wolf asked eagerly: “What did Fate say?” The man told him everything, from the fish’s treasure to the king’s throne, and explained how he had refused both opportunities because he was satisfied with his field.
The wolf became silent. It stared at the man for a long moment. The man smiled, thinking the wolf was simply surprised by his good fortune. But the wolf’s expression slowly changed, and it said: “There is no one more foolish than you.” The man barely had time to understand what the wolf meant. In an instant, the wolf attacked him, killed him, and ate his brain.
The wolf took a deep breath and suddenly realized that its headache was gone. The man had spent his whole life blaming Fate for everything he lacked. When Fate finally gave him a chance to change his life, he only focused on the small piece of land in front of him. His fate had changed, but he did not recognize it.
