When the evening evened, the king sat in his privy closet and
summoning the vizier, required of him the promised story. So Er
Rehwan said, "Know, O king, that
STORY OF THE RICH MAN AND HIS WASTEFUL
SON.
There was once a sage of the sages, who had three sons and sons'
sons, and when they waxed many and their posterity multiplied,
there befell dissension between them. So he assembled them and
said to them, 'Be ye one hand[FN#219] against other than you and
despise[FN#220] not [one another,] lest the folk despise you, and
know that the like of you is as the rope which the man cut, when
it was single; then he doubled [it] and availed not to cut it; on
this wise is division and union. And beware lest ye seek help of
others against yourselves[FN#221] or ye will fall into perdition,
for by whosesoever means ye attain your desire,[FN#222] his
word[FN#223] will have precedence of[FN#224] your word. Now I
have wealth which I will bury in a certain place, so it may be a
store for you, against the time of your need.'
Then they left him and dispersed and one of the sons fell to
spying upon his father, so that he saw him hide the treasure
without the city. When he had made an end of burying it, he
returned to his house; and when the morning morrowed, his son
repaired to the place where he had seen his father bury the
treasure and dug and took it and went his way. When the [hour of
the] old man's admission [to the mercy of God] drew nigh, he
called his sons to him and acquainted them with the place where
he had hidden his riches. As soon as he was dead, they went and
dug up the treasure and found wealth galore, for that the money,
which the first son had taken by stealth, was on the surface and
he knew not that under it was other money. So they took it and
divided it and the first son took his share with the rest and
laid it to that which he had taken aforetime, behind [the backs
of] his father and his brethren. Then he took to wife the
daughter of his father's brother and was vouchsafed by her a male
child, who was the goodliest of the folk of his time.
When the boy grew up, his father feared for him from poverty and
change of case, so he said to him, 'Dear my son, know that in my
youth I wronged my brothers in the matter of our father's good,
and I see thee in weal; but, if thou [come to] need, ask not of
one of them nor of any other, for I have laid up for thee in
yonder chamber a treasure; but do not thou open it until thou
come to lack thy day's food.' Then he died, and his wealth, which
was a great matter, fell to his son. The young man had not
patience to wait till he had made an end of that which was with
him, but rose and opened the chamber, and behold, it was [empty
and its walls were] whitened, and in its midst was a rope hanging
down and half a score bricks, one upon another, and a scroll,
wherein was written, 'Needs must death betide; so hang thyself
and beg not of any, but kick away the bricks, so there may be no
escape[FN#225] for thee, and thou shall be at rest from the
exultation of enemies and enviers and the bitterness of poverty.'
When the youth saw this, he marvelled at that which his father
had done and said, 'This is a sorry treasure.' Then he went forth
and fell to eating and drinking with the folk, till nothing was
left him and he abode two days without tasting food, at the end
of which time he took a handkerchief and selling it for two
dirhems, bought bread and milk with the price and left it on the
shelf [and went out. Whilst he was gone,] a dog came and took the
bread and spoiled the milk, and when the man returned and saw
this, he buffeted his face and went forth, distraught, at a
venture. Presently, he met a friend of his, to whom he discovered
his case, and the other said to him, 'Art thou not ashamed to
talk thus? How hast thou wasted all this wealth and now comest
telling lies and saying, "The dog hath mounted on the shelf," and
talking nonsense?' And he reviled him.
So the youth returned to his house, and indeed the world was
grown black in his eyes and he said, 'My father said sooth.' Then
he opened the chamber door and piling up the bricks under his
feet, put the rope about his neck and kicked away the bricks and
swung himself off; whereupon the rope gave way with him [and he
fell] to the ground and the ceiling clove in sunder and there
poured down on him wealth galore, So he knew that his father
meant to discipline[FN#226] him by means of this and invoked
God's mercy on him. Then he got him again that which he had sold
of lands and houses and what not else and became once more in
good case. Moreover, his friends returned to him and he
entertained them some days.
Then said he to them one day, 'There was with us bread and the
locusts ate it; so we put in its place a stone, a cubit long and
the like broad, and the locusts came and gnawed away the stone,
because of the smell of the bread.' Quoth one of his friends (and
it was he who had given him the lie concerning the dog and the
bread and milk), 'Marvel not at this, for mice do more than
that.' And he said, 'Go to your houses. In the days of my
poverty, I was a liar [when I told you] of the dog's climbing
upon the shelf and eating the bread and spoiling the milk; and
to-day, for that I am rich again, I say sooth [when I tell you]
that locusts devoured a stone a cubit long and a cubit broad.'
They were confounded at his speech and departed from him; and the
youth's good flourished and his case was amended.[FN#227] Nor,"
added the vizier,"is this stranger or more extraordinary than the
story of the king's son who fell in love with the picture."
Quoth the king, "Belike, if I hear this story, I shall gain
wisdom from it; so I will not hasten in the slaying of this
vizier, nor will I put him to death before the thirty days have
expired." Then he gave him leave to withdraw, and he went away to
his own house.