THE RUINED MAN WHO BECAME RICH AGAIN
THROUGH A DREAM.[FN#424]
There lived once in Baghdad a wealthy man and made of money, who
lost all his substance and became so destitute that he could earn
his living only by hard labour. One night, he lay down to sleep,
dejected and heavy hearted, and saw in a dream a Speaker[FN#425]
who said to him, "Verily thy fortune is in Cairo; go thither and
seek it." So he set out for Cairo; but when he arrived there
evening overtook him and he lay down to sleep in a mosque
Presently, by decree of Allah Almighty, a band of bandits entered
the mosque and made their way thence into an adjoining house; but
the owners, being aroused by the noise of the thieves, awoke and
cried out; whereupon the Chief of Police came to their aid with
his officers. The robbers made off; but the Wali entered the
mosque and, finding the man from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold
of him and beat him with palm-rods so grievous a beating that he
was well-nigh dead. Then they cast him into jail, where he abode
three days; after which the Chief of Police sent for him and
asked him, "Whence art thou?"; and he answered, "From Baghdad."
Quoth the Wali, "And what brought thee to Cairo?"; and quoth the
Baghdadi, "I saw in a dream One who said to me, Thy fortune is in
Cairo; go thither to it. But when I came to Cairo the fortune
which he promised me proved to be the palm-rods thou so
generously gavest to me." The Wali laughed till he showed his
wisdom-teeth and said, "O man of little wit, thrice have I seen
in a dream one who said to me: 'There is in Baghdad a house in
such a district and of such a fashion and its courtyard is laid
out garden-wise, at the lower end whereof is a jetting-fountain
and under the same a great sum of money lieth buried. Go thither
and take it.' Yet I went not; but thou, of the briefness of thy
wit, hast journeyed from place to place, on the faith of a dream,
which was but an idle galimatias of sleep." Then he gave him
money saying, "Help thee back herewith to thine own country;"--
And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.
When It was the Three Hundred and Fifty-second Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali
gave the Baghdad man some silver, saying, "Help thee back
herewith to thine own country;" and he took the money and set out
upon his homewards march. Now the house the Wali had described
was the man's own house in Baghdad; so the wayfarer returned
thither and, digging underneath the fountain in his garden,
discovered a great treasure. And thus Allah gave him abundant
fortune; and a marvellous coincidence occurred. And a story is
also current of
