The end of the Six Hundred and Eighteenth Night.
Then said she:—I have heard, O auspicious King, that Hasan al-Habbal thus continued his story:—When I had put the Ashrafis a bottom the jar of bran, my wife came in and I said naught to her of the two friends or of aught had happened, but I set out for the Bazar to buy hemp. Now as soon as I had left the house there came, by evil fate impelled, a man who sold Tafl, or fuller's earth,[275] wherewith the poorer sort of women are wont to wash their hair. My wife would fain have bought some but not a single Kauri[276] or almond had she. Then she took thought and said to herself, "This jar of bran is here to no purpose, I will exchange it for the clay," and he also, the Tafl seller, agreed to this proposal and went off taking the jar of bran as the price of the washing earth. Anon I came back with a load of hemp upon my head and other five on the heads of as many porters who accompanied me; and I helped them off with their burthens and, after storing the stuff in a room, I paid and dismissed them. Then I stretched me out upon the floor to take rest awhile and looking towards the corner where once stood the jar of bran I found it gone. Words fail me, O Prince of True Believers, to describe the tumult of feelings which filled my heart at the sight. I sprang up with all speed and calling to my wife enquired of her whither the jar had been carried; and she replied that she had exchanged its contents for a trifle of washing clay. Then cried I aloud, "O wretched, O miserable, what hast thou done? thou hast ruined me and thy children; thou hast given away great wealth to that clay selling fellow!" Then I told her all that had betided me, of the coming of the two friends and how I had hidden the hundred and ninety Ashrafis within the bran-jar; and she, on hearing this wept sore and beat her breast and tore her hair crying, "Where now shall I find that clay- seller? The wight is a stranger, never before did I see him about this quarter or this street. Then turning to me she continued, "Herein thou hast dealt right foolishly, for that thou didst not tell me of the matter, nor didst place any trust in me; otherwise this mishap would never have happened to us; no, never." And she lamented with loud lamentation and bitter whereat I said, "Make not such hubbub nor display such trouble, lest our neighbours overhear thee, and learning of our mishap peradventure laugh at us and call us fools. It behoveth us to rest content with the will of Almighty Allah." However the ten Ashrafis which I had taken from the two hundred sufficed me to carry on my trade and to live with more of ease for some short while; but I ever grieved and I marvelled much anent what could be said to Sa'di when he should come again; for inasmuch as he believed me not the first time I was assured in my mind that now he would denounce me aloud as a cheat and a liar. One day of the days the twain, to wit, Sa'd and Sa'di, came strolling towards my house conversing and, as usual, arguing about me and my case; and I seeing them from afar left off working that I might hide myself, as I could not for very shame come forth and accost them. Seeing this and not guessing the reason they entered my dwelling and, saluting me with the salam, asked me how I had fared. I durst not raise my eyes so abashed and mortified was I, and with bended brow returned the greeting; when they, noting my sorry plight, marvelled saying, "Is all well with thee? Why art thou in this state? Hast thou not made good use of the gold or hast thou wasted thy wealth in lewd living?" Quoth I, "O my lords, the story of the Ashrafis is none other than this. When ye departed from me I went home with the purse of money and, finding no one was in the house for all had gone out somewhere, I took out therefrom ten gold pieces. Then I put the rest together with the purse within a large earthen jar filled full of bran which had long stood in one corner of the room, so might the matter be kept privy from my wife and children. But whilst I was in the market buying me some hemp, my wife returned home; and at that moment there came in to her a man which sold fuller's earth for washing hair. She had need thereof withal naught to pay with; so she went out to him and said, 'I am clean without coin, but I have a quantity of bran; say me, wilt thou have that in change for thy clay?' The man agreed and accordingly my wife took the earth of him, and gave him in exchange the jarful of bran which he carried away with him and ganged his gait. An ye ask, 'Wherefore didst thou not confide the matter to thy spouse and tell her that thou hadst put the money in the jar?' I on my side answer, that ye gave me strict injunctions to keep the money this time with the utmost heed and caution. Methought that stead was the safest wherein to store the gold and I was loath to trust my wife lest haply she take some coin therefrom and expend it upon her household. O my lords, I am certified of your goodness and graciousness, but poverty and penury are writ in my Book of Fate; how then can I aspire to possessions and prosperity? Withal, never while I breathe the breath of life, shall I be forgetful of this your generous favour." Quoth Sa'di, "Meseemeth I have disbursed four hundred Ashrafis to no purpose in giving them to thee; yet the intent wherewith they were given was that thou shouldst benefit thereby, not that I claim thy praise and thanksgiving." So they twain compassionated and condoled with me in my misfortune; and presently Sa'd, an upright man and one who had acquaintance with me since many a year, produced a leaden coin[277] which he had picked up from the path and was still carrying in his pocket; and, after shewing it to Sa'di, said to me, "Seest thou this bit of lead? Take it and by favour of Fate thou shalt find out what blessings it will bring to thee." Sa'di on espying it laughed aloud and made jest of the matter and flouting said, "What advantage will there be to Hasan from this mite of lead and in what way shall he use it?" Sa'd handing me the leaden coin retorted in reply, "Give no heed to whatso Sa'di may say, but keep this by thee. Let him laugh an he please. One day haply shall come to pass, Inshallah—an it be the will of Almighty Allah—that thou shalt by means thereof become a wealthy man and a magnifico." I took the bit of lead and put it in my pocket, and the twain bade me farewell and went their way.—And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till