"Tell me thy age," said the emperor.
"I have lived for a hundred years."
"A hundred years old, and still expect to eat from the fruit of this tree?"
"If such be God's pleasure," replied the old man; "if not, I will leave it for my son, as my father left the fruit of his labor for me."
"Well," said the emperor, "if thou dost live until the figs from this tree are ripe, I pray thee let me know of it."
The aged man lived to partake of that very fruit, and remembering the emperor's words, he resolved to visit him. So, taking a small basket, he filled it with the choicest figs from the tree, and proceeded on his errand. Telling the palace guard his purpose, he was admitted to the sovereign's presence.
"Well," asked the emperor, "what is thy wish?"
The old man replied:—
"Lo, I am the old man to whom thou didst say, on the day thou sawest him planting a fig tree, 'If thou livest to eat of its fruit, I pray thee let me know;' and behold I have come and brought thee of the fruit, that thou mayest partake of it likewise."