One day, as he was scratching and turning over the heap, he found a dime, which he tied up in a corner of his ragged dress, and continued to hunt for millet grains, but could not find one.
“Oh, well,” said he, “I’ve got a dime now; I’m pretty well fixed. I’ll go home and take a nap instead of a meal.”
So he went to his hut, took a drink of water, put some tobacco in his mouth, and went to sleep.
The next morning, as he scratched in the dust heap, he saw a countryman going along, carrying a basket made of twigs, and he called to him: “Hi, there, countryman! What have you in that cage?”
The countryman, whose name was Moohaad′eem, replied, “Gazelles.”
And Haamdaanee called: “Bring them here. Let me see them.”
Now there were three well-to-do men standing near; and when they saw the countryman coming to Haamdaanee they smiled, and said, “You’re taking lots of trouble for nothing, Moohaadeem.”
“How’s that, gentlemen?” he inquired.
“Why,” said they, “that poor fellow has nothing at all. Not a cent.”
“Oh, I don’t know that,” said the countryman; “he may have plenty, for all I know.”