Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/27

9 are what is commanded to thee, and the five hundred are a gift from me to thee; and every year thou shalt have of me a thousand dinars.’ When the Bedouin was about to take leave, he said to the merchant, ‘I conjure thee, by Allah, tell me the story of the bean, that I may know the origin of all this.’ ‘In the early part of my life,’ replied the merchant, ‘I was miserably poor and hawked hot boiled beans about the streets of Baghdad for a living.

I went out one cold, rainy day, without clothes enough on my body to protect me from the weather, now shivering for excess of cold and now stumbling into the pools of rain-water, and altogether in so piteous a plight as would make one shudder to look upon. Now it chanced that Jaafer was seated that day, with his officers and favourites, in an upper chamber overlooking the street, and his eye fell on me; so he took pity on my case and sending one of his servants to fetch me to him, said to me, “Sell thy beans to my people.” So I began to mete out the beans with a measure I had with me, and each who took a measure of beans filled the vessel with gold pieces, till the basket was empty. Then I gathered together the money I had gotten, and Jaafer said to me, “Hast thou any beans left?” “I know not,” answered I and sought in the basket, but found only one bean. This Jaafer took and splitting it in twain, kept one half himself and gave the other to one of his favourites, saying, “For how much wilt thou buy this half-bean?” “For the tale of all this money twice-told,” replied she; whereat I was confounded and said in myself, “This is impossible.” But, as I stood wondering, she gave an order to one of her handmaids and the girl brought me the amount twice-told. Then said Jaafer, “And I will buy my half for twice the sum of the whole. Take the price of thy bean.” And he gave an order to one of his servants, who gathered together the whole of the money and laid it in my basket; and I took