The lad gave them a handful of gold coins, and on the next day loaded his camels and started for Tiflis. He gave forty gold coins to see the World’s Beauty from behind the glass, and after that spent all his wealth and merchandise for her sake. He came back to Bagdad to his mother, as poor as Job, and told her his ill-luck. She scolded him for his disobedience to his father’s command. But the lad wept and promised that he would not go to Tiflis any more, if she gave him from his father’s secret chamber something by which he could earn his living and preserve his father’s reputation. His mother gave him an empty purse, saying:
“If to-day you put in this purse forty pieces of copper, on the morrow you will see that they have changed to forty pieces of gold. After three years, the gold put into the purse changes into copper. That is to say, once in three years the talisman changes to its contrary.”
“This is good,” thought the lad; “I have now an inexhaustible revenue, which never requires work.”
He soon forgot his promise to his mother, and took the first caravan to go to Tiflis. He paid forty gold pieces every day to see the World’s Beauty, and his money was not exhausted. The maiden was surprised, and one day invited him to a banquet, with the intention of robbing him.
“Ah! I love you very much,” she said to him, artfully, “I will certainly marry you if you tell me the secret of your wealth.”
How easily may a simple youth be deceived by an artful woman! The lad fell into the trap and showed her the magic purse. The maiden intoxicated him with poisonous wine, and taking away the purse expelled him from her house. He returned to his mother, lamenting his loss. He wept and promised not to go again to Tiflis, if she gave him something else from his father’s secret chamber by which he might earn his living. A mother’s heart is tender; she could not resist his importunities, and at last brought to him from the secret chamber a cap, saying:
“This is a magic cap; when you put it on your head you will see others without being seen by anybody.”
This was something that suited the lad best of all. As soon as he became the owner of the cap he forgot his solemn promises to his mother and directly set out for the city of Tiflis. He entered the maiden’s house and looked at her as much as he pleased, without being molested. The maiden and the inmates of the house detected that there was somebody in the house, but they could not see him, despite their repeated efforts. One day, the maiden thought it might be the youth of Bagdad who was playing this trick, and she called him by his name, saying:
“Disclose yourself, I will certainly marry you.”
The lad took the cap from his head, and appeared to the maiden.