I was born, Commander of the
Faithful, in Bagdad, and was left an orphan while I was yet a very
young man, for my parents died within a few days of each other. I had
inherited from them a small fortune, which I worked hard night and day
to increase, till at last I found myself the owner of eighty camels.
These I hired out to travelling merchants, whom I frequently
accompanied on their various journeys, and always returned with large
profits.
One day I was coming back from
Balsora, whither I had taken a supply of goods, intended for India,
and halted at noon in a lonely place, which promised rich pasture for
my camels. I was resting in the shade under a tree, when a dervish,
going on foot towards Balsora, sat down by my side, and I inquired
whence he had come and to what place he was going. We soon made
friends, and after we had asked each other the usual questions, we
produced the food we had with us, and satisfied our hunger.
While we were eating, the dervish
happened to mention that in a spot only a little way off from where we
were sitting, there was hidden a treasure so great that if my eighty
camels were loaded till they could carry no more, the hiding place
would seem as full as if it had never been touched.
At this news I became almost
beside myself with joy and greed, and I flung my arms round the neck
of the dervish, exclaiming: "Good dervish, I see plainly that the
riches of this world are nothing to you, therefore of what use is the
knowledge of this treasure to you? Alone and on foot, you could carry
away a mere handful. But tell me where it is, and I will load my
eighty camels with it, and give you one of them as a token of my
gratitude."
Certainly my offer does not sound
very magnificent, but it was great to me, for at his words a wave of
covetousness had swept over my heart, and I almost felt as if the
seventy-nine camels that were left were nothing in comparison.
The dervish saw quite well what
was passing in my mind, but he did not show what he thought of my
proposal.
"My brother," he
answered quietly, "you know as well as I do, that you are
behaving unjustly. It was open to me to keep my secret, and to reserve
the treasure for myself. But the fact that I have told you of its
existence shows that I had confidence in you, and that I hoped to earn
your gratitude for ever, by making your fortune as well as mine. But
before I reveal to you the secret of the treasure, you must swear
that, after we have loaded the camels with as much as they can carry,
you will give half to me, and let us go our own ways. I think you will
see that this is fair, for if you present me with forty camels, I on
my side will give you the means of buying a thousand more."
I could not of course deny that
what the dervish said was perfectly reasonable, but, in spite of that,
the thought that the dervish would be as rich as I was unbearable to
me. Still there was no use in discussing the matter, and I had to
accept his conditions or bewail to the end of my life the loss of
immense wealth. So I collected my camels and we set out together under
the guidance of the dervish. After walking some time, we reached what
looked like a valley, but with such a narrow entrance that my camels
could only pass one by one. The little valley, or open space, was shut
up by two mountains, whose sides were formed of straight cliffs, which
no human being could climb.
When we were exactly between
these mountains the dervish stopped.
"Make your camels lie down
in this open space," he said, "so that we can easily load
them; then we will go to the treasure."
I did what I was bid, and
rejoined the dervish, whom I found trying to kindle a fire out of some
dry wood. As soon as it was alight, he threw on it a handful of
perfumes, and pronounced a few words that I did not understand, and
immediately a thick column of smoke rose high into the air. He
separated the smoke into two columns, and then I saw a rock, which
stood like a pillar between the two mountains, slowly open, and a
splendid palace appear within.
But, Commander of the Faithful,
the love of gold had taken such possession of my heart, that I could
not even stop to examine the riches, but fell upon the first pile of
gold within my reach and began to heap it into a sack that I had
brought with me.
The dervish likewise set to work,
but I soon noticed that he confined himself to collecting precious
stones, and I felt I should be wise to follow his example. At length
the camels were loaded with as much as they could carry, and nothing
remained but to seal up the treasure, and go our ways.
Before, however, this was done,
the dervish went up to a great golden vase, beautifully chased, and
took from it a small wooden box, which he hid in the bosom of his
dress, merely saying that it contained a special kind of ointment.
Then he once more kindled the fire, threw on the perfume, and murmured
the unknown spell, and the rock closed, and stood whole as before.
The next thing was to divide the
camels, and to charge them with the treasure, after which we each took
command of our own and marched out of the valley, till we reached the
place in the high road where the routes diverge, and then we parted,
the dervish going towards Balsora, and I to Bagdad. We embraced each
other tenderly, and I poured out my gratitude for the honour he had
done me, in singling me out for this great wealth, and having said a
hearty farewell we turned our backs, and hastened after our camels.
I had hardly come up with mine
when the demon of envy filled my soul. "What does a dervish want
with riches like that?" I said to myself. "He alone has the
secret of the treasure, and can always get as much as he wants,"
and I halted my camels by the roadside, and ran back after him.
I was a quick runner, and it did
not take me very long to come up with him. "My brother," I
exclaimed, as soon as I could speak, "almost at the moment of our
leave-taking, a reflection occurred to me, which is perhaps new to
you. You are a dervish by profession, and live a very quiet life, only
caring to do good, and careless of the things of this world. You do
not realise the burden that you lay upon yourself, when you gather
into your hands such great wealth, besides the fact that no one, who
is not accustomed to camels from his birth, can ever manage the
stubborn beasts. If you are wise, you will not encumber yourself with
more than thirty, and you will find those trouble enough."
"You are right,"
replied the dervish, who understood me quite well, but did not wish to
fight the matter. "I confess I had not thought about it. Choose
any ten you like, and drive them before you."
I selected ten of the best
camels, and we proceeded along the road, to rejoin those I had left
behind. I had got what I wanted, but I had found the dervish so easy
to deal with, that I rather regretted I had not asked for ten more. I
looked back. He had only gone a few paces, and I called after him.
"My brother," I said,
"I am unwilling to part from you without pointing out what I
think you scarcely grasp, that large experience of camel-driving is
necessary to anybody who intends to keep together a troop of thirty.
In your own interest, I feel sure you would be much happier if you
entrusted ten more of them to me, for with my practice it is all one
to me if I take two or a hundred."
As before, the dervish made no
difficulties, and I drove off my ten camels in triumph, only leaving
him with twenty for his share. I had now sixty, and anyone might have
imagined that I should be content.
But, Commander of the Faithful,
there is a proverb that says, "the more one has, the more one
wants." So it was with me. I could not rest as long as one
solitary camel remained to the dervish; and returning to him I
redoubled my prayers and embraces, and promises of eternal gratitude,
till the last twenty were in my hands.
"Make a good use of them, my
brother," said the holy man. "Remember riches sometimes have
wings if we keep them for ourselves, and the poor are at our gates
expressly that we may help them."
My eyes were so blinded by gold,
that I paid no heed to his wise counsel, and only looked about for
something else to grasp. Suddenly I remembered the little box of
ointment that the dervish had hidden, and which most likely contained
a treasure more precious than all the rest. Giving him one last
embrace, I observed accidentally, "What are you going to do with
that little box of ointment? It seems hardly worth taking with you;
you might as well let me have it. And really, a dervish who has given
up the world has no need of ointment!"
Oh, if he had only refused my
request! But then, supposing he had, I should have got possession of
it by force, so great was the madness that had laid hold upon me.
However, far from refusing it, the dervish at once held it out, saying
gracefully, "Take it, my friend, and if there is anything else I
can do to make you happy you must let me know."
Directly the box was in my hands
I wrenched off the cover. "As you are so kind," I said,
"tell me, I pray you, what are the virtues of this
ointment?"
"They are most curious and
interesting," replied the dervish. "If you apply a little of
it to your left eye you will behold in an instant all the treasures
hidden in the bowels of the earth. But beware lest you touch your
right eye with it, or your sight will be destroyed for ever."
His words excited my curiosity to
the highest pitch. "Make trial on me, I implore you," I
cried, holding out the box to the dervish. "You will know how to
do it better than I! I am burning with impatience to test its
charms."
The dervish took the box I had
extended to him, and, bidding me shut my left eye, touched it gently
with the ointment. When I opened it again I saw spread out, as it were
before me, treasures of every kind and without number. But as all this
time I had been obliged to keep my right eye closed, which was very
fatiguing, I begged the dervish to apply the ointment to that eye
also.
"If you insist upon it I
will do it," answered the dervish, "but you must remember
what I told you just now--that if it touches your right eye you will
become blind on the spot."
Unluckily, in spite of my having
proved the truth of the dervish's words in so many instances, I was
firmly convinced that he was now keeping concealed from me some hidden
and precious virtue of the ointment. So I turned a deaf ear to all he
said.
"My brother," I replied
smiling, "I see you are joking. It is not natural that the same
ointment should have two such exactly opposite effects."
"It is true all the
same," answered the dervish, "and it would be well for you
if you believed my word."
But I would not believe, and,
dazzled by the greed of avarice, I thought that if one eye could show
me riches, the other might teach me how to get possession of them. And
I continued to press the dervish to anoint my right eye, but this he
resolutely declined to do.
"After having conferred such
benefits on you," said he, "I am loth indeed to work you
such evil. Think what it is to be blind, and do not force me to do
what you will repent as long as you live."
It was of no use. "My
brother," I said firmly, "pray say no more, but do what I
ask. You have most generously responded to my wishes up to this time,
da not spoil my recollection of you for a thing of such little
consequence. Let what will happen I take it on my own head, and will
never reproach you."
"Since you are determined
upon it," he answered with a sigh, "there is no use
talking," and taking the ointment he laid some on my right eye,
which was tight shut. When I tried to open it heavy clouds of darkness
floated before me. I was as blind as you see me now!
"Miserable dervish!" I
shrieked, "so it is true after all! Into what a bottomless pit
has my lust after gold plunged me. Ah, now that my eyes are closed
they are really opened. I know that all my sufferings are caused by
myself alone! But, good brother, you, who are so kind and charitable,
and know the secrets of such vast learning, have you nothing that will
give me back my sight?"
"Unhappy man," replied
the dervish, "it is not my fault that this has befallen you, but
it is a just chastisement. The blindness of your heart has wrought the
blindness of your body. Yes, I have secrets; that you have seen in the
short time that we have known each other. But I have none that will
give you back your sight. You have proved yourself unworthy of the
riches that were given you. Now they have passed into my hands, whence
they will flow into the hands of others less greedy and ungrateful
than you."
The dervish said no more and left
me, speechless with shame and confusion, and so wretched that I stood
rooted to the spot, while he collected the eighty camels and proceeded
on his way to Balsora. It was in vain that I entreated him not to
leave me, but at least to take me within reach of the first passing
caravan. He was deaf to my prayers and cries, and I should soon have
been dead of hunger and misery if some merchants had not come along
the track the following day and kindly brought me back to Bagdad.
From a rich man I had in one
moment become a beggar; and up to this time I have lived solely on the
alms that have been bestowed on me. But, in order to expiate the sin
of avarice, which was my undoing, I oblige each passer-by to give me a
blow.
This, Commander of the Faithful,
is my story.
When the blind man had ended the
Caliph addressed him: "Baba-Abdalla, truly your sin is great, but
you have suffered enough. Henceforth repent in private, for I will see
that enough money is given you day by day for all your wants."
At these words Baba-Abdalla flung
himself at the Caliph's feet, and prayed that honour and happiness
might be his portion for ever.
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