The Penitent

The parable of the Penitent is a well known children's tale in Qesrir and the surrounding settlements. In its original form, it served as a cautionary tale, warning the reader or listener against judging people based on their appearance and against the pitfalls of digging in one's heels when one is plainly mistaken. The story has since changed in the telling, however, especially following the arrival of the Dominion. The parable of the Penitent was one of many tales adopted to impart not just the original lessons but also new ones more in line with Dominean values.

Summary

The tale of the Penitent originates in Qesrir, from where a sea stack that bears a remarkable resemblance to a kneeling man with his head lowered is visible. As the story goes, a prince from faraway once visited Qesrir. He was wealthy and arrogant, looking down on the commonfolk and refusing to so much as set his feet on the dirt, but he loved the sea and came to Qesrir just to be close to it.
Despite the urging of the townsfolk to the contrary, the prince ordered his men to cut back a portion of the Shār near the coast. The good wood was used to build a grand house by the seaside while the rest was carelessly thrown to the waves, which carried the wood out to sea.
In the original telling, shortly after the completion of the prince's house by the seaside, a raft of driftwood washed ashore during a stormy night, carrying an old woman in ragged clothes upon it. Servants at the house saw the woman and took pity on her, bringing her in from the cold. The prince, however, was disgusted that the servants brought "common filth" into his home and commanded the servants to throw the woman out into the night.
One servant begged the prince for mercy but was told to leave his service. The second, though afraid, offered to shelter the woman in the stables but the prince was concerned that her filth might stain his precious horses and refused. Finally, the woman begged him for clemency, explaining that her ship had just sunk and that all she needed was but one evening to rest and that she would be gone the next morning but still the prince refused.
It was then the old woman shed her poor, bedraggled form, revealing her true nature as a sea goddess that had been angered by the prince's careless act of throwing the wood into the waves. She had come to judge his personality and found him wanting and demanded that he make an offering to appease her rage by the next time both moons shone in the sky.
The prince, instead of being cowed, was instead incensed. "How dare she rebuke me?" he thought to himself. To his mind, it was her fault for coming to his home dressed in rags and covered in filth. If she'd come as a goddess he would have lavished her with gifts but instead she'd decided to make him look bad in front of his servants.
He refused to apologize. For the next three years, the goddess came each night both moons shone brightly in the sky and demanded what she was owed. The prince refused. He did not believe she had the power to make good on her threat so he just ignored it. Until the day she stopped coming, the day his fall began.
As the sea swallowed only his family's ships and any ships containing his family's gold or his family's goods, it became impossible for the prince's family to trade. The money trickled away until the prince was left with nothing and even the clothes on his back were sold to pay back debts his family could no longer hope to pay.
Realizing what had gone wrong, the beleaguered and desperate prince waded into the surf, knelt, and prayed for forgiveness. It was too late. He stayed there day after day until the salt in the waves and in the air turned him to stone.