CHAPTER XIII
ENTITLED AL-FULÚS AL-MASNÚ MIN AL-QIRTÁS,
OR THE MONEY MADE OF PAPER
On the appointed day of the next week the little boys were glad to observe that the number of public executions had fallen so far below the average that their uncle’s entertainment of them could begin quite half an hour before the usual time. They were most eager to discover what further good fortune had befallen him by the Mercy of Allah.
The amiable old man opened his mouth and spoke:
“Two million gold pieces is a respectable sum of money. It weighs about thirty tons ... yes,” he calculated rapidly on his bejewelled fingers, “about thirty tons. The city could just produce it after scouring the country for miles around, searching all the more modest houses and melting down sundry antique lamps, wedding rings, sacred shrines and other gewgaws.
“The complete withdrawal of so much metal left them a little embarrassed for coin in everyday affairs, but really that was not my business. I packed a hundred strong iron chests with the bullion, reserving a few thousands in a leather bag, set them in carts, added to my retinue a hundred armed men, marked my cases plainly in large white letters ‘Sand consigned to the Sultan,’ and had all made ready to set out: but whither?
“Until a man’s wealth has grown so great that he can command the whole state, he is always in some peril. He is envied and a target for vile taxes—nay for confiscation.... I had not forgotten the dreadful lesson of the island! I pondered on what I had read of various regions, and had rejected each in turn as dangerous, when I heard by chance a man saying to his neighbour (with whom he was quarrelling), ‘Remember! This is not the country of Dirak where there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.’ As you may well believe I deeply considered these random words, and within an hour I was giving an excellent meal to a Learned Man who taught in the University, famous for his knowledge of foreign constitutions. I spoke of the Franks, of the Maghreb, of Rome. On all he was most interesting and full: he spoke also with contempt of certain wild tribes in the hills who have a strange custom of choosing a retired Chief annually from among the less wealthy members, under the barbarous error that modest means conduce to honesty and sharpen judgment.
“‘As in Dirak,’ said I casually.
“‘In Dirak?’ he exclaimed astonished. ‘Why! Who can have told you such tales? Dirak is the best administered, the most flourishing and the strongest of all states!’