The king reflected on these words for some time, then spoke to the hairdresser: “You have heard, Scissors, the message from the otherworld.  Are you ready to go there and shave my royal father as well as all my ancestors?”

Trembling, the hairdresser saw no way out.  He could only stammer: “As Your Majesty commands!”

So, he too had to mount a pyre, but when it was lit the flames consumed him along with the wood, for he was not clever enough to escape.

Jan Knappert is a retired folklore specialist who has published six books on the Orient.  He has taught at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, as well as the Oriental Institute, University of Louvain, Belgium.