Tales from the Arabic/Story of the Rich Man and His Wasteful Son

by Unknown

STORY OF THE RICH MAN AND HIS WASTEFUL SON.

There was once a sage of the sages, who had three sons and sons’ sons, and when they waxed many and their posterity multiplied, there befell dissension between them. So he assembled them and said to them, ‘Be ye one hand^[1] against other than you and despise^[2] not [one another,] lest the folk despise you, and know that the like of you is as the rope which the man cut, when it was single; then he doubled [it] and availed not to cut it; on this wise is division and union. And beware lest ye seek help of others against yourselves^[3] or ye will fall into perdition, for by whosesoever means ye attain your desire,^[4] his word^[5] will have precedence of^[6] your word. Now I have wealth which I will bury in a certain place, so it may be a store for you, against the time of your need.’

Then they left him and dispersed and one of the sons fell to spying upon his father, so that he saw him hide the treasure without the city. When he had made an end of burying it, he returned to his house; and when the morning morrowed, his son repaired to the place where he had seen his father bury the treasure and dug and took it and went his way. When the [hour of the] old man’s admission [to the mercy of God] drew nigh, he called his sons to him and acquainted them with the place where he had hidden his riches. As soon as he was dead, they went and dug up the treasure and found wealth galore, for that the money, which the first son had taken by stealth, was on the surface and he knew not that under it was other money. So they took it and divided it and the first son took his share with the rest and laid it to that which he had taken aforetime, behind [the backs of] his father and his brethren. Then he took to wife the daughter of his father’s brother and was vouchsafed by her a male child, who was the goodliest of the folk of his time.

When the boy grew up, his father feared for him from poverty and change of case, so he said to him, ‘Dear my son, know that in my youth I wronged my brothers in the matter of our father’s good, and I see thee in weal; but, if thou [come to] need, ask not of one of them nor of any other, for I have laid up for thee in yonder chamber a treasure; but do not thou open it until thou come to lack thy day’s food.’ Then he died, and his wealth, which was a great matter, fell to his son. The young man had not patience to wait till he had made an end of that which was with him, but rose and opened the chamber, and behold, it was [empty and its walls were] whitened, and in its midst was a rope hanging down and half a score bricks, one upon another, and a scroll, wherein was written, ‘Needs must death betide; so hang thyself and beg not of any, but kick away the bricks, so there may be no escape^[7] for thee, and thou shall be at rest from the exultation of enemies and enviers and the bitterness of poverty.’

When the youth saw this, he marvelled at that which his father had done and said, ‘This is a sorry treasure.’ Then he went forth and fell to eating and drinking with the folk, till nothing was left him and he abode two days without tasting food, at the end of which time he took a handkerchief and selling it for two dirhems, bought bread and milk with the price and left it on the shelf [and went out. Whilst he was gone,] a dog came and took the bread and spoiled the milk, and when the man returned and saw this, he buffeted his face and went forth, distraught, at a venture. Presently, he met a friend of his, to whom he discovered his case, and the other said to him, ‘Art thou not ashamed to talk thus? How hast thou wasted all this wealth and now comest telling lies and saying, “The dog hath mounted on the shelf,” and talking nonsense?’ And he reviled him.

So the youth returned to his house, and indeed the world was grown black in his eyes and he said, ‘My father said sooth.’ Then he opened the chamber door and piling up the bricks under his feet, put the rope about his neck and kicked away the bricks and swung himself off; whereupon the rope gave way with him [and he fell] to the ground and the ceiling clove in sunder and there poured down on him wealth galore, So he knew that his father meant to discipline^[8] him by means of this and invoked God’s mercy on him. Then he got him again that which he had sold of lands and houses and what not else and became once more in good case. Moreover, his friends returned to him and he entertained them some days.

Then said he to them one day, ‘There was with us bread and the locusts ate it; so we put in its place a stone, a cubit long and the like broad, and the locusts came and gnawed away the stone, because of the smell of the bread.’ Quoth one of his friends (and it was he who had given him the lie concerning the dog and the bread and milk), ‘Marvel not at this, for mice do more than that.’ And he said, ‘Go to your houses. In the days of my poverty, I was a liar [when I told you] of the dog’s climbing upon the shelf and eating the bread and spoiling the milk; and to-day, for that I am rich again, I say sooth [when I tell you] that locusts devoured a stone a cubit long and a cubit broad.’ They were confounded at his speech and departed from him; and the youth’s good flourished and his case was amended.^[9]

Return to King Shah Bekht and His Vizier Er Rehwan.

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1. i.e. united.
2. Or “humble.”
3. i.e. one another.
4. Or “conquer.”
5. Or “commandment.”
6. Lit. “will be higher than.”
7. Syn. device or resource (hileh).
8. Syn. chasten or instruct.
9. Students of our old popular poetry will recognize, in the principal incident of this story, the subject of the well-known ballad, “The Heir of Linne.”