Reading (Notes) Rainbow: Soothsayer

Signet-ring of the Black Prince (1330–1376), in the Louvre. Found on wikimedia. 

The Soothsayer
The main character is a man who looks older than he is, 40 to 50 looking 60 to 70. He was skilled and able to provide for his family. His wife is at the bath and there is a commotion; the soothsayer's wife will be there shortly. The bath woman at the baths paid her great respect hoping to earn favor. The wife felt slighted by this favoritism. She told her husband that he needed to become a soothsayer or leave. He discusses his current duties that he completes in order to care for her, leaving no time for studying to be a soothsayer. She kept her ultimatum in place. He didn't want to lose her, because she was exceptionally gorgeous. He went to a coffee shop to think through his options. His friend finds him and sets up a situation for him the next day. The bath woman will allow him to set up inform of the baths the next day and act like a soothsayer. But he could neither read nor write. The soothsayer's wife came again, and the bath woman stole a ring from her and hid it in the mud. The bath woman told the man of this, setting him up for the next part of the con. The soothsayer's wife raised a fuss and the man was brought in to divine the location of the lost object. He told them where to find it. And in return for finding the ring, the soothsayer's wife gave him gifts. In the next few days the Sultana lost her ring; upon hearing of his knack for finding lost items, she brought the man to the palace. The slave who stole the ring then gave it to the man, and he was able to pass off the fact that he knew where to find it- in the stomach of a goose with a broken leg. He was promoted to chief soothsayer and able to con his way into fame and fortune from his roots as an artisan.

This story comes from Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).