There are many stories about King Abbas and his kingship. One of these is that he use to wear masquerade himself and go among public. One night the king was dressed as a Darvish and had a Kashkool filled with a bag of coins and food, and went to the Bazzar. He walked to store and from the crack of the open door he saw a dyer who was working and while hitting the cloths, he would repeat this sentence: “hit, hit, you are what you are”.
King Abbas acts like a Darvish and asks him if he could go inside. After greetings, he said: “didn’t you make your 9 to 3? Meaning that didn’t you do enough work during the 9 months of spring, summer and autumn that you could at least rest the three months of winter.” The dyer who recognized this metaphor, replied: “I did, but it didn’t work!” King Abbas asked him about the philosophy of “hit, hit, you are what are” and the dyer replied: “being assured from my bad fortune, I am trying to calm myself to not look for anything to get better, that my life is what it is.” King Abbas gave the Kashkool filled with the food to the dyer to take for his family. Nevertheless, the next morning, the unaware dyer sells the Kashkool for a few Shahis to his next-door neighbor. The following night King Abbas dressed as a Darvish went back to the dyer’s store again.
He asked about the food and the Kashkool, when he realized that the dyer had sold it for so nothing. Again, he gave him his Kashkool and insists that he doesn’t sell it, but again the dyer fears that his family may get use to this good food, so gives it away to a poor person. The third night, King Abbas returns and places the bag of coins in front of the stairs near the water reservoir and enters the his store. After greetings, the dyer goes to get water. When he reaches the stairs, he thought about his time of elderly and if her becomes blind, so he decides to practice being blind; so closed his eyes and goes to get water. He gets water with closed eyes so he didn’t see the bag of coins. When the king realized what had happened again, he confirmed the dyer’s saying and said: “hit it hit it, you are what you are; if God doesn’t what you to change, the Sultan can’t change you either!”
Name Abul Mozaffar Shah Abbas Bin Shah Mirza Safavid Al-Hosseini Al-Mousavi
Titles The Great King Abbas, Shah Abbas Safavid, Conqueror of Baghdad
Name of Reign Safavid/Coronation Year 1191
Tomb Emamzadeh Habib Bin Mosa’s Shrine, Kashan
Name Dyeing (Rangrazi)
Other Name Sabbaghi
History in Iran Achaemenid Era
Usage Coloring Textile Goods
Common Methods of Dyeing (Rangrazi) Traditional and Industrial
