“I had, during this torrent of talk, interjected here and there a question and no more. I had spoken guardedly and yet with no disrespect for his enthusiasm. I had, as we say among the merchants, ‘sounded him.’ I asked him in conclusion what sum he thought necessary for the completion of his enterprise. He named 300 gold pieces, about one-quarter of what lay concealed in my sacks upon the ground, which sacks (I had casually informed him) were filled with coarse grain from the hills.
“Upon hearing this sum given, a sum so well within my means, an interior light broke upon me. I did not pray for guidance, as is my custom in any business dealing of doubt. I was directly and immediately inspired. To this I owe the whole of my present position; for it was the foundation of all that followed. I had suffered vicissitude. It is the lot of man. But henceforward my soul was to be filled with increasing and ever-increasing wealth until I should be able to call myself, as I do now, by far the richest man in all the Caliphate and perhaps in the world. This, my dear nephews, was the turning-point!”
The old man’s eyes were full of tears, his voice trembled; never had the awestruck boys imagined that their uncle, in his greatness and serenity, could be so moved.
“Oh, my children!” he continued in broken accents, “never forget in your own lives this master precept; that of all those whom Allah presents to us for exploitation, none, none is so lucrative as the Creative Enthusiast; the man who can make and produce and yet be managed! the Genius devoid of Guile! You may know him, that rare jewel, by his eyes.”
The old man recovered himself with dignity, wiped his eyes on a piece of priceless embroidered silk from Samarcand, threw it out of the window, and, in his more usual tone, pursued the recital of his fortunes.
“The young man never dreamt that such a chance and dusty traveller as I, with my one mule, could help him. He had merely burst out with his story to me as he would have done to any human being that would hear him. I had the more advantage of him from his ignorance of my real wealth.
“I told him soberly at the end of his tale that it interested me greatly, that his idea was evidently sound, but that the stupidity, ignorance, and suspicion of town councillors were common not only to his city, but to all others—a thing which I, who had travelled widely, could judge. I assured him, out of a vast experience (which he accepted with the utmost simplicity), that he could hope for no more from such a source. I then fell into a sort of bemused condition, as though I were ruminating what could next be done.
“The young man, his hopes now turned into a new channel, and, after so brief an acquaintance (for such is the nature of these enthusiasts) already beginning to look to me for aid, watched my face most anxiously. I continued silent.
“At last he could bear it no longer. He asked me impetuously what I should advise—where could he turn? What could be done? It would be a tragedy—a murder—for his great scheme to fail merely because its obvious advantage could not be put before anyone who had the provision of 300 gold pieces necessary for paying the labourers till the plan was achieved. He sprang to his feet. He walked feverishly up and down. He betrayed all the symptoms of his case.
“I answered him with great deliberation and firmness. I said, first of all, that I had nothing. It was a pity, for I thoroughly understood his idea. I admired it. I believed in it. Indeed, it was obviously sound. If I had had the wherewithal (said I) I would at once have made the advance. If I had had even a portion I would have put that portion at his disposal if only to show my sincere appreciation of his genius. For it was the neglect of men like himself (I continued) that hindered the progress of the world. But so it was! I had but my trade as an itinerant merchant in grain to support myself and a very large family which I had left at home in the hills. I had nothing laid by.... However, my annual tour through this and neighbouring provinces brought me into contact (these were my very words) with many notables possessed of ample reserves. In this very town—now that he had told me its name—I remembered two or three correspondents with whom I had done business in the past, though I had never seen them. These I would approach. And if he would give me an appointment that evening after sunset I would tell him if I had been able to effect anything.