The Four Travelers is a South Asian folk tale first documented by Sufi master Ghuath Ali Shah of 19th Century India. The story deals with religion, lust, the good friendship can do, and the ease with which it falls apart. Depending on how the story is told, Values Dissonance may apply about the acceptable treatment of women.
A carpenter, a tailor, a goldsmith, and an ascetic meet and agree to travel together the next part of their journey to have safety in numbers. They get along amazingly well and survive the nights by taking turns keeping guard. One night, the carpenter alleviates his boredom by carving a beautiful woman out of wood. The tailor takes over guard duty and, believing such a fine woman needs fine clothes, fashions her a gorgeous dress. The goldsmith is next to keep watch and creates the most splendid jewelry to adorn the lifelike statue with. Lastly, the ascetic awakens and is amazed at his new friends' work, so wanting to contribute too, he asks Allah to bring the statue to life. The next morning, it takes mere minutes for the four men to fight over the new woman, each claiming ownership on account of their contribution. They choose to settle the matter by means of an arbiter, but neither judge nor king is fit for the task. Finally, they meet a messenger of Allah who tells the men to make their case to the Tree of Knowledge. They do and in answer, the tree splits open for the woman to step inside. The tree then closes.
Variants of the tale include the amount of people the four travelers meet for a verdict and how they respond, the messenger being a Sufi master or even an angel, and the wooden woman saying that everything must eventually return to its origin when she steps into the tree (as opposed to never speaking at all).
The Four Travelers provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: The exact fate of the wooden woman is ambiguous. It is certain her form was destroyed, but what of her self? Did she die or become one with the Tree of Knowledge?
- Cassandra Truth: The four travelers explain the situation to several people, ranging from farmers to a king. No one wants to give a verdict because statues don't come to life so either the men aren't well to begin with or they're messing with them.
- Cock Fight: A four way one between the travelers over the wooden woman (and possibly more later on). It doesn't get notably violent because each party acknowledges finding an arbiter is better, but they were promising friends up to her genesis, which wouldn't have happened in the first place without said friendship.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat: The judge in those versions in which he claims the wooden woman is his runaway concubine.
- Living Statue: The wooden woman is a statue who was brought to life by Allah on request.
- Lust: Depending on the version, either half or the full story is pushed forth by the lust men have for the wooden woman.
- Neutral Female: Possibly justified, either because as a woman she isn't in the position to have a say or because the wooden woman isn't human so who knows what goes on in her head. In any case, there's no indication in the story she takes a role in the decision which man gets to take her home.
- Our Angels Are Different: In some versions, the messenger is implied to be an angelic being. He's sent by Allah, is unknown to any of those present in the court room at that time, and overall is clearly not from around.
- Plot Tailored to the Party: Each of the four travelers in succession contributes something to the wooden woman that suits their expertise.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: The poor wooden woman immediately becomes the reason of the travelers' friendship falling apart, as they each want the beautiful appearance for themselves. In some versions, she even gains more pushy suitors. On their way to the judge, the men meet a farmer they tell their tale. He seizes the peculiar story to claim the woman is not a living statue, but his runaway wife. He joins the search for a judge to decide whom the woman belongs to. Similarly, they meet a captain of the guard who claims the woman is his deceased brother's runaway wife and thus his inheritance. And when finally in court, the judge himself tries to take her on account that she supposedly is his runaway concubine. The divine conclusion is that the wooden woman can't continue to exist if this is how men become in her presence.
- The Speechless: The wooden woman never speaks in the story. In some versions, she's explicitly mute, while in others she might just be The Voiceless. Sometimes, the woman does talk when she joins with the Tree of Knowledge to assert this is for the best, but again, it's often ambiguous if she chose to not talk prior or truly couldn't until she merged with the tree.
- World Tree: The Tree of Knowledge that is asked for a verdict and "consumes" the wooden woman to end the conflict she brings. In some versions, it's not a specific tree with a title, but a random yet imposing tree nearby that is consulted.
