There once lived a very poor woodcutter by the name of Mishkin who earned his livelihood out of chopping and selling wood. He had a wife and a daughter for a family. One day, his neighbours were cooking delicious liver, and tempted by the odour of the delicious food the woodcutter's daughter went to their neighbours with an excuse of borrowing some fire starter in the hope of getting offered some of their delicious food. Her three repeated attempts in doing so were of no avail, as she got the fire starters but did not get any food. Finally, when the neighbours sat down to have their dinner she went with an excuse that her fire had died down and would like to request the firestarter again. This time the neighbours got really angry and taunted her by saying "I know why you keep on coming again and again. Here...... take the matchbox and remember, it is a sin to put out fire deliberately." So saying the neighbour slammed the door onto her face.
Mishkin's daughter was very sad and miserable for the rest of the day and in the evening when her father came home and enquired about her misery she told him the whole story of how she craved for the delicious food her neighbours were cooking but got none to taste. The father re-assured her that next day he would work extra hard and earn the extra money with which he would buy her the ingredients to cook the delicious food and they will all have a feast.
Next day Mishkin went to the forest early in the morning. To his disappointment he found out that there was a forest-fire. He waited all day for the fire to subside, but of no avail. He went home in tears and the whole family had a glass of water and went to bed. This scenerio continued for three days. On the third day, Mishkin could not get himself to go home empty handed. So he burst out in tears and was full of despair. He sat in a corner not knowing what to do next.
Just then, five Angels were passing by the forest dressed in white, green and yellow (Warharan Yazad, Ardwahisht Yazad, Mihr Yazad, Vohuman Yazad, and Srosh Yazad). (Behram Yesht, Ardibehsht Yesht, Meher Yesht, Behman Yesht and Sarosh Yesht). Out of all Warharan Yazad was the angel in charge of solving human problems. When they saw Mishkin they stopped by and asked him, "Oh human being, what are you weeping for? If possible, we will try and help you out". At first Mishkin refused to part with his problems but later opened up and explained the whole situation of how his family had to go without food for three days due to forest fires and about his selfish neighbours. Warharan Yazad picked up three handful of sand from the ground and put it in Mishkin's lap and said "Keep this safely with you. If your situation improves with this then whenever convenient narrate the whole story and offer some grams (nuts), flowers and sweets and remember us."
Mishkin thought to himself, "What good is this sand going to be of to me? After they leave , I shall throw it away." The five Angels disappeared into the air and a mysterious voice came from above, "Oh Mishkin, look after this sand as you would look after your own life. You will prosper with it -- don t throw it away, otherwise you will face poverty all your life." When Mishkin returned home he dumped the sand in one corner of his room. In the very early hours next morning when the neighbours saw a bright light in Mishkin's house they yelled out "Fire"! Mishkin's daughter woke up her father saying there is unusual brightness in the house. Someone has entered our house. Mishkin said, "Don t be silly, we have nothing in the house except a rope and axe for the thief to take. You have been starved for the last three days so you must be having visions."
However, Mishkin was a little uneasy himself to notice this unusual brightness around the house so he woke up to check around the house. To his amazement he found that the sand he had dumped in a corner had all turned to precious jewellery which was throwing glitters all over the house. In the morning Mishkin thanked God and took a piece of jewellery out of his precious jewels to the market to sell it. The jeweller was amazed to see the piece and asked him if he could offer him 100,000 or 200,000? Mishkin could not believe his ears so he went to another jeweller to get his jewels valued. He too could not believe his eyes as in his lifetime he had never seen such a precious jewel. He made three bags full of money ready and asked Mishkin to toss his jewel and take away whichever bag it landed on. So he did, and sure enough, it landed on the biggest bag of money. Mishkin went shopping for provisions and bought some of the nicest ingredients to cook food and got a servant to carry it down to his house. On his way home he distributed some grams, sweets and cardamom to whoever came his way. His wife and daughter refused to accept or empty the groceries thinking that it must belong to some rich family and has landed there in error. The daughter asked the father, "We are starved for every grain of food and we have no money, so how did you manage to bring all this? Did you steal?" Mishkin replied, "God bestowed this upon me as a gift." So saying he narrated the whole incident of how the Angels had given him the sand etc. Soon after he built a house for himself which was prettier than the King's Palace.
One day as the King was passing by Mishkin's house he was astonished to see a house that was prettier than his own. Upon enquiring he found out who the owner was. To test if Mishkin was an arrogant man, he sent the same top quality food that they ate to Mishkin's house. Mishkin and his family felt highly obligated when they saw this delicious food and wondered how to repay the King's obligation. He gave the King's daughter a peice of jewel out of his precious jewellery. The daughter was amazed to see this beautiful piece of jewel and set it in a necklace. Now Mishkin decided to go out of town on a pilgrimage. Before he left he entrusted his daughter to say her prayers to Warharan Yazad. Having become rich Mishkin's daughter now had many friends. One day they came to a pond where King's daughter came with her servants for a dip. Mishkin's daughter also came for a dip and hence they made good friends. Mishkin's daughter forgot to say her prayers to Warharan Yazad.
One day they were passing by a lake and the King's daughter decided to go for a swim. Since Mishkin's daughter did not know how to swim , she stayed behind to look after the Princess clothes and diamond necklace. When the Princess came out she found her necklace missing. She accused Mishkin's daughter of stealing it and got both mother and daughter arrested and put in jail.
On the other hand Mishkin got robbed by thieves and returned home. When he came to know that his wife and daughter are in jail he pleaded with the King to release them and put him in jail instead, which he did.
The same night Mishkin had a dream in which he saw an Angel who said, "You were granted so much happiness in life and you could not say a prayer to Warharan Yazad?"
Mishkin sincerely apologised for his daughter s mistake to which the Angel said, "In the morning when you wake up you will find some money under your pillow. Your chain will loosen up too. If you order some grams out of this money and pray to Warharan Yazad all your difficulties will be resolved." In the morning when Mishkin woke up his chain had become lose and he also found some money as promised by the Angels in his dream. He requested a passerby who was passing on a horse to buy him some grams (nuts). He refused to do so saying, "I am in a hurry to pick up some wedding clothes and I do not have the time to bring you the grams" Soon after he left, his horse fell in quick sand and he broke his leg.
Just then another man was passing by with a sad face. He agreed to bring the grams for Mishkin as his son was on death bed counting his last moments. Mishkin requested him to sit with him while he narrated the story and acknowledge it by saying "yes" to whatever he heard. Mishkin completed his story and wished well for everybody and offered the grams to the man by way of offerings. When he went home he saw that his son was hail and hearty and everyone in the family was rejoicing at his fast recovery. He established his faith in Warharan Yazad and began to pray with grams for Warharan Yazad every week or whenever possible.
On the other side, the King and Queen with their daughter were relaxing in a garden. Just then a bird flew over them and dropped the necklace into the Princess lap. When they all looked up it was an Eagle. The King apologised to Mishkin for falsely accusing him of theft. Mishkin said, "You have degraded my family, now who will marry my daughter?"
The King seeing the truth in what Mishkin was saying agreed to marry his son to Mishkin's daughter after consulting with his son. Being relatives they now visited each other quite often. One day they were all together at Mishkin's house, the Queen saw that Mishkin was peeling some grams and saying the story in his mind. Queen jokingly asked him the reason for peeling grams. Mishkin said, "These grams have made us all very happy." The Queen said, "if there is any truth in what you are saying, I have lost my brothers since last 7 years and if they come back to me, I will make your story world renowned. "The Queen and Mishkin prayed and by the Grace of God the brothers came back in 3 days time. The Queen fulfilled her promise and the story was made known to the world and it was recommended to pray to Warharan Yazad in times of severe difficulties.
Just as the Queen's wish was fulfilled, just as Mishkin and his wife and kid's desires were fulfilled, just as the old man's son came to life from his death bed ....... similarly may all our problems be resolved.
May God Almighty make all our difficulties easy. May Peace be on all of the World. Amen!