Her Father Married Her to a Beggar Because She Was Born Blind, and What Happened Next Left Everyone Speechless
Zainab had never seen the world, but she could feel her cruelty with every breath she took. She was born blind into a family that valued beauty above all else. Her two sisters were admired for their striking eyes and graceful figures, while Zainab was treated like a burden, a shameful secret kept behind closed doors.
Her mother d.ied when she was just five years old and since then, her father changed: he became bitter, resentful and cruel, especially to her. He never called her by her name. He used to call her “that thang.”
He didn’t want her at the table during family meals or outside when visitors came.
He believed she was cursed and, when she turned 21, he made a decision that would shatter what was left of his already broken heart.
One morning, he entered her small room where she was sitting quietly, feeling the pages of a worn-out book in braille, and left on her lap a folded piece of cloth.
“You’re getting married tomorrow,” he said flatly.
She froze to d:eath. Words were meaningless. To get married? With whom?
“He is a beggar of the mosque,” her father continued. “You are blind. He is poor. A good game.”
She wanted to scream, but nothing came of it. She had no choice. Her dad never gave her options.
She got married the next day in a small, rushed ceremony. She never saw his face, of course, and no one described it to her. Her father pushed her towards the man and told him to take his arm. She obeyed like a ghost in her own body.
Everyone laughed behind their hands— “The blind girl and the beggar”.
After the ceremony, her father gave her a small bag with some clothes and pushed it back towards the man.
“She’s your problem now,” he said and walked away without looking back.
The beggar, whose name was Yusha, silently drove her down the road. He didn’t say anything for a long time.
They came to a broken small hut on the outskirts of the village. It smelled like wet earth and smoke.
“It’s not much,” Yusha said softly. — But you’ll be safe here.
She sat on the old mat inside, holding back tears. This was his life now. A blind girl married a beggar in a hut made of mud and hope.
But something strange happened that first night.
Yusha prepared tea for her with soft hands. He gave him his own blanket and slept by the door, like a guard dog protecting his queen. He talked to her like he cared — he asked her what stories she liked, what dreams she had, what foods made her smile. No one had asked her those questions before.
Days turned into weeks Yusha accompanied her to the river every morning, describing the sun, the birds, the trees, with such poetry that she began to feel as if she could see them through her words.
He would sing to her while I was washing clothes and tell her stories about stars and distant lands at night. Laughed for the first time in years.
Her heart began to open. And in that strange hut, something unexpected happened — Zainab fell in love.
One afternoon, while reaching out for his hand, she asked him:
— Were you always a beggar?
He hesitated. Then he said in a low voice:
— I wasn’t always like this.
But he never said anymore. And she didn’t insist.
Until one day. She went to the market alone to buy vegetables.
Yusha had given her careful instructions and she memorized every step. But halfway through, someone violently grabbed her arm.
— Blind Rat! — spit out a voice.
It was his sister. Amen.
— Are you still alive ? Are you still playing beggar’s wife?
Zainab felt the tears rolling up, but she stood tall.
— I’m happy, — he said.
Aminah laughed so hard.
— You don’t even know what it feels like. It’s such a waste. Just like you.
And then whispered something that shattered her.
— He’s not a beggar. Zainab, you’ve been lied to.
Zainab stumbled on her way home, confused. She waited until nightfall and when Yusha returned, she asked him again, but this time firmly.
— Tell me the truth. Who are you really ?
And it was then when he knelt before her, he took his hands and said,
— You should never have known yet. But I can’t lie to you anymore.
Her heart was beating fast.
He took a deep breath.
— I am not a beggar. I am the son of the Emir.
Zainab’s world began to spin as she processed Yusha’s words.
“I am the Emir’s son.”
She tried to control her breathing, to understand what she had just heard.
Her mind replayed every moment they had shared, his kindness, his quiet strength, his stories that felt too vivid for a mere beggar, and now she understood why. He had never been a beggar.
Her father had married her not to a beggar, but to royalty disguised in rags.
He removed his hands from hers, stepped back, and asked, his voice trembling, “Why? Why did you let me believe you were a beggar?”
Yusha stood up, her voice calm but thick with emotion. “Because I wanted someone who saw me, not my wealth, not my title, just me. Someone pure. Someone whose love wasn’t bought or forced. You were everything I had asked for, Zainab.”
She sat down, her legs too weak to support her. Her heart struggled with anger and love. Why hadn’t she told him? Why had she let him believe she was discarded like trash? Yusha knelt beside her again.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I came to the village in disguise because I was tired of suitors who loved the throne but not the man. I heard about a blind girl rejected by her father. I watched you from afar for weeks before proposing to you through your father, using the disguise of a beggar. I knew he would accept because he wanted to be rid of you.”
Tears streamed down Zainab’s cheeks. The pain of her father’s rejection mingled with disbelief that someone would go so far just to find a heart like hers. She didn’t know what to say, so she simply asked, “And now? What happens next?”
Yusha gently took her hand. “Now you come with me, to my world, to the palace.”
Her heart leapt. “But I’m blind. How can I be a princess?”
He smiled. “You already are, my princess.”
That night she barely slept. Her thoughts revolved: her father’s cruelty, Yusha’s love, and the terrifying unknown of the future. In the morning, a royal carriage arrived in front of the hut. Guards dressed in black and gold bowed to Yusha and Zainab as they exited. Zainab held Yusha’s arm tightly as the carriage began to move toward the palace.
When they arrived, the crowd was already gathered.
They were surprised by the return of the lost prince, but even more surprised to see him with a blind girl.
Yusha’s mother, the Queen, stepped forward, her eyes narrowed as she studied Zainab. But Zainab bowed respectfully.
Yusha stood by her side and declared, “This is my wife, the woman I chose, the woman who saw my soul when no one else could.”
The Queen remained silent for a moment, then stepped forward and hugged Zainab. “So, she is my daughter,” she said. Zainab nearly fainted with relief. Yusha squeezed her hand and whispered, “I told you, you are safe.”
That night, as they settled into their room in the palace, Zainab stood by the window, listening to the sounds of the royal compound. Her entire life had changed in a single day. She was no longer “that thing” locked in a dark room. She was a wife, a princess, a woman who had been loved not for her body or her beauty, but for her soul.
And although in that moment of peace she felt relief, something dark still lingered in her heart: the shadow of her father’s hatred.
She knew the world would not accept her easily, that the court would whisper and mock her blindness, and that enemies would arise within the palace walls. Yet for the first time, she did not feel small.
She felt powerful.
The next morning, she was summoned to court, where nobles and leaders had gathered. Some sneered as she entered with Yusha, but she held her head high.
Then came the unexpected twist.
Yusha stood before them and declared, “I will not be crowned until my wife is accepted and honored in this palace. And if she isn’t, then I’m leaving with her.”
Murmurs filled the room. Zainab felt her heart pound as she looked at him. He had already given everything for her. “Would you leave the throne for me?” she whispered.
He looked at her with fierce passion in his eyes. “I already did it once. I would do it again.”
The Queen stood. “So let it be known, from this day forward, Zainab is not just your wife. She is Princess Zainab of the Royal House. Anyone who disrespects her disrespects the crown.”
And with those words, the room fell silent.
Zainab’s heart beat fast, but no longer out of fear, but out of strength.
She knew her life would change, but now it would do so on her own terms. She would no longer be a shadow, but a woman who had found her place in the world.
And the best part was that, for the first time, she didn’t have to be seen for her beauty. Only for the love she held in her heart.
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