Page:Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp.djvu/55

13 take thou a pickaxe and go to the palace of thy father Such-an-one in such a place and dig there in the earth and thou wilt find that which shall enrich thee.”

When Zein ul Asnam awoke from his sleep, he hastened to his mother, rejoicing, and acquainted her with his dream; whereupon she fell again to laughing at him and said to him, “O my son, indeed this old man laugheth at thee, nought else; wherefore do thou turn thy thought from him.” But he said to her, “Nay, mother mine, indeed he is soothfast and lieth not; for that, in the first of his dealing, he tried me and now his intent is to accomplish unto me his promise.” “In any case,” rejoined she, “the thing is not toilsome; so do that which thou wilt, even as he said to thee, and make proof of the matter, and God willing, thou shalt return to me rejoicing; but methinketh thou wilt return to me and say, ‘Thou saidst sooth, O my mother, in thy rede.’” The prince accordingly took a pickaxe and going down to the palace where his father was buried, fell a-delving in the earth; nor had he dug long when, behold, there