THE THIEF AND HIS MONKEY[FN#171]
A certain man had a monkey and that man was a thief, who never
entered any of the street-markets of the city wherein he dwelt,
but he made off with great profit. Now it came to pass one day
that he saw a man offering for sale worn clothes, and he went
calling them in the market, but none bid for them and all to whom
he showed them refused to buy of him. Presently the thief who
had the monkey saw the man with the ragged clothes set them in a
wrapper and sit down to rest for weariness; so he made the ape
sport before him to catch his eye and, whilst he was busy gazing
at it, stole the parcel from him. Then he took the ape and made
off to a lonely place, where he opened the wrapper and, taking
out the old clothes, folded them in a piece of costly stuff.
This he carried to another bazar and exposed for sale together
with what was therein, making it a condition that it should not
be opened, and tempting the folk with the lowness of the price he
set on it. A certain man saw the wrapper and its beauty pleased
him; so he bought the parcel on these terms and carried it home,
doubting not that he had done well. When his wife saw it she
asked, "What is this?" and he answered, "It is costly stuff,
which I have bought at lowest price, meaning to sell it again and
take the profit." Rejoined she, "O dupe, would this stuff be
sold under its value, unless it had been stolen? Dost thou not
know that whoso buyeth aught without examining it, falleth into
error and becometh like unto the weaver?" Quoth he, "And what is
the story of the weaver?"; and quoth she:--I have heard this take
of
The Foolish Weaver
There was once in a certain village a weaver who worked hard but
could not earn his living save by overwork. Now it chanced that
one of the richards of the neighbourhood made a marriage feast
and invited the folk thereto: the weaver also was present and
found the guests, who wore rich gear, served with delicate viands
and made much of by the house-master for what he saw of their
fine clothes. So he said in his mind, "If I change this my craft
for another craft easier to compass and better considered and
more highly paid, I shall amass great store of money and I shall
buy splendid attire, so I may rise in rank and be exalted in
men's eyes and become even with these." Presently, he beheld one
of the mountebanks, who was present at the feast, climbing up to
the top of a high and towering wall and throwing himself down to
the ground and alighting on his feet. Whereupon the waver said
to himself, "Needs must I do as this one hath done, for surely I
shall not fail of it." So he arose and swarmed upon the wall and
casting himself down, broke his neck against the ground and died
forthright. "Now I tell thee this that thou sayst get thy living
by what way thou knowest and thoroughly understandest, lest
peradventure greed enter into thee and thou lust after what is
not of thy condition." Quoth the woman's husband, "Not every
wise man is saved by his wisdom, nor is every fool lost by his
folly. I have seen it happen to a skilful charmer, well versed
in the ways of serpents, to be struck by the fangs of a
snake[FN#172] and killed, and others prevail over serpents who
had no skill in them and no knowledge of their ways." And he
went contrary to his wife and persisted in buying stolen goods
below their value till he fell under suspicion and perished
therefor: even as perished the sparrow in the tale of
