Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp | Page 9

to Cairo, [FN#40] and I trusted in him and deemed of him that he was the Prophet (whom God bless and keep) or one of the pious Friends of God? But there is no power and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Supreme. By Allah. I did well in that I acquainted none with my sallying forth neither related my dream unto any! [FN#41] Indeed. I believed in this old man and meseemed. by that which appeared to me, he was none of mankind, [FN#42] extolled be His perfection and magnified be He who [alone] knoweth the truth! By Allah, I will leave trusting in this old man [neither will I comply with him] in that which he would have me do!" Accordingly, he lay [the rest of] that night [in the mosque] and at daybreak he arose and mounting his courser, set out on his return to Bassora, [the seat of] his kingship, where, after a few days, he arrived and went in that same night to his mother, who asked him if aught had befallen him of that which the old man had promised him. He acquainted her with that which he had seen [in his sleep] and she fell to condoling with him and comforting him, saying, "Grieve not, O my son, for, an God the Most High have appointed thee aught of [good] fortune, thou wilt attain thereto without either travail or toil; but I would have thee be understanding and discreet and leave these things which have brought thee to poverty, O my son, and eschew singing-wenches and the commerce of youths and women; all this is for the baser sort, not for kings' sons like thee." And he swore to her that he would never more gainsay her commandment, but would observe all that she should say to him and would turn his mind to the governance and the kingship and leave that wherefrom she forbade him. Then he slept that night and what while he was on sleep, the old man appeared to him and said to him, "O Zein ul Asnam, O valiant one, whenas thou arisest from thy sleep this day, I will accomplish my promise to thee; wherefore take thou a pickaxe and go to the palace of thy father Such-an-one [FN#43] in such a place and dig there in the earth and thou wilt find that which shall enrich thee."
When Zein ul Asnam awoke from his sleep, he hastened to his mother, rejoicing, and acquainted her with his dream; whereupon she fell again to laughing at him and said to him, "O my son, indeed this old man laugheth at thee, nought else; wherefore do thou turn thy thought from him." But he said to her, "Nay, mother mine, indeed he is soothfast and lieth not; for that, in the first of his dealing, he tried me and now his intent is to accomplish unto me his promise." "In any case," rejoined she, "the thing is not toilsome; [FN#44] so do that which thou wilt, even as he said to thee, and make proof of the matter, and God willing, thou shalt [FN#45] return to me rejoicing; but methinketh thou wilt return to me and say, 'Thou saidst sooth, O my mother, in thy rede."' The prince accordingly took a pickaxe and going down to the palace where his father was buried, fell a-delving in the earth; nor had he dug long when, behold, there appeared to him a ring fixed in a slab of marble. He raised the slab and seeing a stair, descended thereby and found a great vault, all builded with columns of marble and alabaster; then, proceeding innerward, he found within the vault a hall which ravished the wit, and therein eight jars of green jasper; [FN#46] and he said, "What be these jars and what is in them?" So [FN#47] he went up and uncovering them, found them all full of old gold ; [FN#48] whereupon he took a little in his hand and going to his mother, gave her thereof and said to her, "Thou seest, O my mother." She marvelled at this thing and said to him, "Beware, O my son, lest thou squander it, like as thou squanderedst other than this." And he swore to her, saying, "Be not concerned, O my mother, and let not thy heart be other than easy on my account, for I would fain have thee also content with me." [FN#49]
Then she arose and went with him, and they descended into the vault and entered the [underground] hall, [FN#50] where she beheld that which ravished the wit and saw the jars of gold. What while they diverted themselves with gazing upon these latter, behold, they espied a little jar of fine jade; so