Secret of Lokman Hekim by Cenk PALA

Secret of Lokman Hekim

By Dr. Cenk PALA

 

Nobody knew what happened to the four bold brothers sultan was wondering about. It was not possible for brothers to tell their stories neither. They all looked like they lost their minds. They were repeating the same words, crying, hitting their bold heads with scoops and were not saying anything else.

 

Sultan:

-They say take the power from your belly and the advice from the bold head. What would they say if they saw these unfortunates? He thought.

 

Our Sultan was about to go crazy from curiosity. What was the secret that brought the four bold headed brothers? He wanted to find out al the details of their story quickly.

 

Obviously they not only lost their hair but also their minds. But who could tell these four brothers story? He immediately called his adviser and ordered him to find someone who knew the four brothers and who is reliable fast.

 

Royal adviser was not happy about this assignment. Where would he find someone who know these crazy brothers in the whole wide country?

He thought long time but he found a solution. He thought Hafiz Hoca must know the four brothers. Normally people would bring all crazy people to Hafiz Hoca eventually. He sent after Hafiz Hoca immediately.

 

Hafız Hoca was a short, big bellied man who don’t talk all that much but he was a good man who was trusted by all including the Sultan. After a short welcome walked royal adviser Hafiz over to the window to show the four brothers who still sat in the garden talking to themselves, hitting each other with scoops.

 

Hafız Hoca, laughed loudly:

-Everybody knows these four crazy man where I come from but only I know their story. They made such a big mistake all my prayers and medicine could only heal these miserables so much.

 

Royal adviser was happy. He immediately called the royal Katib and told him to bring a lot of paper and ink with him. Hafiz knew the four bold headed brothers’ secret and wanted to tell it to make an example for all.

 

Hafız told, Adviser listened and Katib wrote as fast as he could:

 

These four brothers are sons os Brave Heart Hasan. He is well known for his courage. Hasan in his youth had worked for Lokman Hekim and he had learned a great deal of the secrets of great healing herbs. These skills he used to help the poor and the crippled. He was the only one of the few pupils Lokman Hekim trusted. Rumors were spread about Lokman Hekim was working on a very secret recipe and he was very suspicious about anyone trying to get near him. He even changed his assistants almost daily to avoid anyone learning about his secret.

 

Lokman Hekim had great knowledge about human health. He dedicated his life to solve the mysteries of the healing herbs none has heard of.

Lokman Hekim always said : “The biggest secret of the all living things is hidden in one single herb”. And he once revealed his well kept secret tip Hasan, whom travelled with him since he wa 10 and learned the details of the healing work.

 

The time passed quickly. Hasan was now 40 years old. Lokman Hekim was also getting old and getting more and more obsessed about finding the ultimate mixture. He wouldn’t sleep for days and days mashing ingredients, mixing this and that. After that testing the mixture on himself. Hasan was beginning to get worried about his teacher. One morning he saw him leave with a small piece of paper and decided to follow him. He went down to the riverside. Lokman Hekim suddenly lifted his arms in the air and started shouting : “I found it I found it, at last I found the formula that will save the humanity”. He was shouting, dancing and laughing out loud. And that’s when it happened. The servant of the evil forces, enemy of the humanity and witch of the witches Dark Sultan appeared riding on a black hyena. She threw Lokman Hekim towards the big tree and took the paper from him, then disappeared just as quickly.

Hasan came to help him up. He put his faints master on the horse and rode back to town. As soon as Lokman Hekim opened his eyes he started talking :

“I was expecting something like this, now my 50 years of work is lost.2

And he added:

“Good that I have you Hasan. I will give you the biggest secret of the humanity. Only you deserve it. You have followed and assisted me for all those years, you have been loyal and helped me to heal many people as well as their souls. I will make you stronger with my herbs and you will have the family you’ve been wanting to have. You’ll have four sons and they will take the formula back from the Dark Sultan.

 

Hasan was listening with curiosity and was also a little afraid.

“Hasan, said Lokman Hekim, I have written the formula I found to give humans eternal life on that paper the Dark Sultan stole from me. I have written that with a herbal ink that will never fade away. I will make you a potion and you will meet the woman that is to be your wife tomorrow. In four days you will have 4 sons and they will grow up to be 24 years old in 4 months. They will go on a quest to get back the formula from Dark Sultan.

 

Hasan:

Will you also make them a potion to enable them to succeed this mission?

 

Lokman Hekim:

Yes. I will make a potion for each an every one of them and they will have different powers. One of them will have the strength of a lion, one will be as brave as an eagle, one will be as clever as the fox and one will be as swift as a monkey. But surely will the Dark Sultan try to pull magic tricks for your sons along the way. Don’t forget Hasan! Four brothers will only be able to take back the formula if they can resist the temptation of owning it alone. When the formula is back in my hands the humanity will achieve eternal life.

 

Hafiz Hoca stopped to drink a sip of water and the Katib had the chance to rest his aching fingers and took a deep breath. When Royal adviser nodded Hafiz continued:

 

Lokman’s prophecies became real. The four brothers grew up to be 24 years old in 4 months and Hasan trained them well in everything they need to know to be able to accomplish the mission that was their destiny.

 

And then the time has come for them to set off for their journey. They said their goodbyes to their mother and father, packed some food for the journey and received a magic rifle with endless ammunition from Lokman Hekim. They jumped on their white horses and rode towards Kaf Mountain. They also received a potion from Lokman Hekim that will help them fly over Kaf Mountain.

All through the journey they had been joking and having a good time, until the first night they spent by the Kaf Mountain. After that they had been acting strangely.

 

That night they all dreamt the same dream but in the morning none of them spoke of the dream to each other. In the dream they all saw themselves as the one who shot the Dark Sultan with the magic rifle and recovered the magic formula all by himself.

 

Dark Sultan’s known and feared spells had worked and because of the dreams the brotherly tie was begging to crack. During their 10 days journey to the hidden palace inside the Kaf Mountain they dreamt 10 dreams. In the end they were all under the spell and were convinced that it was not necessary to share the eternal life formula with anyone at all.

Dark Sultan continued her magic tricks and spells. Now they would not only dream at night but also in midday. The idea of being “the most powerful and only invincible human” in the world was well planted in their minds.

Lokman had predicted these dangers and provided them with a potion they should have drank before they went into the mountain. But unfortunately they were attacked by a big black eagle with black eyes just on the narrow mountain pass and the horse loaded with the potion fell into the abyss.

The hardest part of the journey was yet to come. They arrived in the caves filled with traps. First they were moving together. The clever one had the torch in his hand and was followed by the swift, the brave and the strong one. He was holding the rifle.

The clever and the swift brother followed the tracks inside the cave and walked towards the slight wind. Time to time they had to fight with strange creatures net by the Dark Sultan and they won with the help of the magic rifle.

But everything changed when the clever brother pretended that his foot was broken and asked them to leave him behind. While his brothers were fighting with the giant eagle-headed scorpion the clever one by chance leaned on a metal piece that half opened a doorway leading to a light passage. He did not share this with the others and convinced them it is best they travel on without him.

The idea of eternal life was eating them alive form the inside and they became very obsessed. The three brothers journeyed on but they were no different from the clever one. They were all burning with the ambition of ruling the world and being the only human who live forever. They left the clever one with some food and ran along the dark passages.

And then it was the swift brothers turn. He pretended to hit his face on a low hanging rock from the cave’s ceiling. “Oh my eye my eye” he yelled and threw himself to the floor.

 

Strong brother to the brave:

“Let us drop a little of the potion Lokman gave us into his eye and then we’ll continue without him. Maybe we can break the torch in two so he can later find his way in the dark passages. But the passage separates here and it also getting narrower and colder. I’ll borrow our brothers jacket and lead the way form here.”

They left the swift brother behind and continued the journey.

Now they were only two. They both were happy because they left the other two brothers behind. It was much better than having to kill them. The brave didn’t protest the strong wanting to lead the way. As they got deeper and deeper inside the cave it was also getting colder and more moist. But he was not afraid as he was carrying the magic rifle and told to himself that the rifle would be more useful than the jacket and the torch when the time comes to capture the magic formula.

Passages got narrower and narrower and the air got colder and colder. The brave was almost freezing. Suddenly:

“I am sleepy, I will crawl in somewhere to get some sleep and will catch up with you later. I’ll follow the black trace the torch is leaving inside the passage.”

The strong was almost smiling. The formula was going to be his. The brave did his sleepy trick when he saw a hidden passage on the side of a big stone. And he was smiling too because he was thinking the same. He could probably fire the rifle couple of times to warm himself up. The strong would journey alone from there on.

There were a couple of eyes that was watching them all the way: Dark Sultan’s just as dark eyes. The master of the darkness knew it would end up this way. For centuries anything that would serve all was not able to reach humanity because of the greed and power thirsty people like them. And so the Dark Sultan have been winning.

Yes her spells would work negatively on them, but as long as greed and power thirst exist on this earth her spells would be powerful. If the horse with Lokman’s potion did not fell into the abyss they could have managed to resist her spell. She got lucky.

Dark Sultan decided to prepare a final trick for the brothers. The brothers were all very brainy and they would all find where the formula is hidden even though they follow different paths. She would give them such a lesson that this would be an example for all humanity. She started waiting…

Using her spells the Dark Sultan managed to bring all four brothers same place at the same time. They were all surprised to see each other there.

There it was the formula with the secret to eternal life, inside a crystal ball on top of the stairs. Only couple of steps to eternity.

The game was on. The brothers ran towards the stairs. They were pushing, pulling, hitting, punching and biting each other to be able to be able to get there first.

Dark Sultan was laughing out loud. Greedy and power thirsty brothers could not grasp that tha stairs were magic and endless unless they stopped fighting. After some time of fighting and struggling they heard a loud laugh.

Dark Sultan :

“You idiots! Are you going to bring the eternal life formula to the humanity. Look at yourselves, you miserable bunch! These stairs were your final trial. If one of you could realize that the stairs were endless if you did not stop fighting and tried going up the stairs holding hands and altogether you could have seen there were only one step. And the formula would have been yours. But what have you done? The whole journey through you have forgotten you are brothers. Your greed and selfishness won over your hearts. Your empathy became blind and you sold your brothers for power.

A cold wind blew and the master of darkness continued:

“You lied, you didn’t give a hand, you did not share, you left your brother alone, left another to die. You didn't realize that the humanity had to deserve the eternal life only by making unconditional sacrifice. Let alone humanity not even four brothers could be free from selfishness and showed sacrifice.

Now you will get your punishment! You the clever one, from now on you'll be crippled, you swift brother you will be blind, you the strong one you'll wander naked and you the brave you live with your beloved rifle but it will not shoot because it will not have a barrel!

 

So said Hafiz Hoca, when these four brothers didn't sacrifice and fell into their greed the secret of eternal stayed with the Dark Sultan. The brothers came out of the cave and lost their minds. Noone knows how they got here. Probably with the help of the magicians eagle. Dark Sultan gave a lesson to Lokman. In reality the road to secret of eternal life goes through unconditional sacrifice and can only be walked on hand in hand.

 

“Alright” said the Royal adviser: “Why are the four brothers bold?”

 

Hafiz laughed:

“Lokman Hekim and Hasan has plucked all their hair, one by one….that’s why”

 

Royal adviser gave 4 bags of gold to Hafiz and said goodbye. He knew the Sultan would give at least 40 bags of gold for the story. Katib gave all the papers to the adviser and received a bag of gold.

 

Having the written story of the four brothers the Royal adviser walked across the garden to inform the Sultan. As he was passing the four brothers he heard them say “Give the food to the hungry. Give the job to the jobless”. He gave a slap on their bold heads for the sake of Lokman and humanity ..