This is just one section from the ``Arabian Nights'' in the translation of
Sir Richard Francis Burton. Here is an
overview.
The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through A Dream
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 labor. One night he lay down to sleep dejected
and heavyhearted, and saw in a dream a speaker 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 gardenwise, 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 he took the money and set out upon his homeward
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 marvelous coincidence occurred.
And a story is also current of
The Ebony Horse.
This page was last changed on Nov 25 1994, 12:13 by
mfx@dasburo.com. Comments
and corrections welcome.