That is:
Salt
CHAPTER V
ENTITLED MILH, OR SALT
When his nephews next filed into the presence of Mahmoud at the hour of public executions their first act was to stand in a line and salaam; their next to push forward the eldest, who with much catching up of himself and in the humblest tones, desired to apologize to his uncle for the interruption of which he had been guilty during their last audience.
“It is not my fault, Revered Sir,” said he, “that I was born a little thick-headed in the matter of figures. The whole thing has been explained to me most fully by my father, my mother, my brothers, and sundry guests that came in last night after the evening meal: to which (alas!) we could not afford to invite them. I now see very clearly where and how a million can become two without breeding, and I only hope that in the further story of your adventures we shall find miraculously increasing with every year the fortune which the Almighty bestowed upon you in reward for your ceaseless efforts to benefit mankind.”
Having said this the lad bowed once more in deep obeisance, while, at a signal from one of their uncle’s attendant slaves, all the brothers sank cross-legged to the floor and assumed expressions of the most enraptured attention.
“There was no need,” said the old man kindly, “to refer again to this unfortunate little affair; but since you have done so I am indeed glad to learn that your difficulties have been explained away. No doubt your excellent father, my brother, and his guests made it plain to you that, if anything, my reward had been far below that to which I was morally entitled. For a man who not only builds for a city a fine bridge but also, from a pure public spirit, leaves it open and free to all, is worthy of very high reward indeed at the hands of the Commonwealth. But, to tell the truth, though I am not indifferent to success in any task I take up, I was not so much concerned with the worldly advantage of my increased fortune as with the good I had done, and with the knowledge that it would add to my glory in paradise. For it is written: ‘Three works are remembered on high: The building of a bridge, the digging of a well, and the pulling down of poor men’s houses.’
“In the last part of what you said (my dear nephews), I fear you will be disappointed; for the story I have to tell to-day” (and here his voice fell to a graver tone) “is one of strange disaster.