Fortune Teller and The Sultan

In 16th Century Istanbul had one of its worst times because of a fire which destroyed almost half of the city in a few days and Sultan investigated the situation thoroughly and found out that the fire was started by a cigarette. And naturally Sultan forbid smoking, then alcoholic drinks and started to visit all the cafes, clubs by himself in disguise... This was a common practice for a Sultan during the Ottoman times.
One day Sultan took a boat and was going to the Asian side of Istanbul to see if everything was OK. And Sultan did not wear his usual ceremonial robes of course.
On the way he asked his companion to give him a cigarette just to provoke the others to break the law. All the people on the boat tried to stop him but could not. And after a while one of the guys from the very east part of the Empire started to practice his mystic skills; fortune telling which was also prohibited in those days.
Then he could attract Sultan’s attention which resulted with a question addressed the fortune teller; ‘’could you tell us where the Sultan is now?’’
Fortune teller replied: ‘’Of course, it is such a piece of cake for me’’ and added ‘’ don’t worry! He is sleeping in the Harem now’’
Sultan Asked again; ‘’Come on! We know he does not sleep that much. Please tell us exactly where he is now’’.
Fortune teller did his trick once again and started shaking and mumbled; ‘’ Sultan is at the sea’’
Then everybody on the boat realized that Sultan was with them. And Sultan addressed the fortune teller another question; if you knew which gate that I will go through (at that time there are about 50 gates around the city), I will spare your life. Otherwise you are a dead man walking.
Fortune teller made another of his tricks and wrote the name of the gate on a piece of paper and gave it to the Sultan.
Sultan ordered row man to take them to the south and stopped the boat at a deserted place where no gate existed at that time and yelled at the soldiers on the city walls’’ Come and build me a new gate here immediately’’
They built the gate shortly, and Sultan went through and opened the paper as soon as he entered the city. What was written on the paper is ‘’ Congratulations for your new gate!’’
This time Sultan was shocked and had to keep his promise so spared the fortune teller. And the more interesting thing is one of the city gates is called ‘’ New Gate ‘’ today and probably this is a true story. I recently came across the fortune teller around Topkapi palace and he seemed quite happy.