Episode 01

This is an Uyghur fairytale

Shadow of a tree 

Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy man in the village. His house stood by the roadside, and in front of it grew a mulberry tree with a sprawling canopy. In the heat of а summer, when the rooms were stuffy, the landlord would sit in the shade of the tree, and eating a grapes one by one. 

One day, a poor man was walking along the road. He sat down in the shade of that same mulberry tree, then lay down and fell asleep.

"Hey, you!" shouted the wealthy man after some time. "Who gave you the right to sleep here? Get up right now and leave!"

"Why is that?" asked the poor man, waking up from his nap.

"This tree is mine, and its shade belongs to me."

"Oh, I see. Then you know what why don’t I buy this this shade from you. I don’t have much but I'll pay for it, without offense."

Smelling money, the wealthy man immediately agreed:

"Fine, give me the money - and the shade is yours."

The poor man invited a few witnesses, and the deal was made. Now the shade from the mulberry tree belonged to the poor man, and every day in the heat, he would come here to rest. Sometimes the tree's shade fell on the wealthy man's courtyard, then the poor man would move to the courtyard; when the shade shifted to the kitchen or fell into the guest room, the poor man would move there and lay down.

"I bought the shade, and it no longer belongs to the wealthy man," he told his friends. "Why shouldn't I invite my beautiful friends to enjoy the coolness of the shade? Come on, let's relax in the shade together!"

No matter how angry the wealthy man was, he had to endure it. He was bound by contract. 

One day, the wealthy man was entertaining guests. When the shade from the tree fell into the guest room, the poor man arrived with his shaggy friends, and they settled in the shade in the room. The guests were surprised and asked the wealthy man what was going on. The wealthy man bit his lip and couldnt bring himself to a proper  answer, but the poor man said calmly:

" the shade is mine! Your friend sold it to me. Now I can rest in the shade at any time."

The guests laughed heartily at the wealthy man, then they left. In a few days, the whole neighborhood was talking and laughing at him, and the children, upon seeing him in the street, would run after him, shouting:

"Greedy one, that’s the greedy rich man he sold his shade! Greedy one, sold his shade!"

The wealthy man couldn't bear to live in that village anymore, so he abandoned everything and moved to another town. Not only did the shade from the mulberry tree, but also the tree itself and the wealthy man's house, become the property of the poor man.