KNOW, my daughter, that there was once a merchant, master of riches and cattle, married and the father of children; to whom All&h had also given understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds. The place of this merchant’s house was in a fertile land on the bank of a river, and in his farm there were an ass and a bull. One day the bull came to the stable where the ass was lodged and found it well swept and watered, with well-winnowed barley in the manger and on the ground well-sifted straw, and the ass lying there at his ease. (For when his master mounted him it would only be for some short ride that chance demanded, and the ass would quickly return to his rest.) Now on that day the merchant heard the bull say to the ass: ‘Give you joy of your food, and may you find it healthy, profitable, and of a good digestion! I myself am weary; but you are rested. You eat well- winnowedbarley and are cared for; and if, on occasion, your master mounts you, he brings you quickly back. As f...
IT has come to me, O auspicious King, that there was once a merchant of the merchants, master of many riches and of affairs of commerce in all lands. One day he mounted on horseback and left for certain places whither his business called him. As the heat became too vexing, he sat down under a tree and, putting his hand into his food-bag, took from it a snack and also some dates. When he had finished eating the dates, he threw the stones to a distance; but suddenly an enormous Ifr(t appeared who approached him, brandishing a sword and crying: ‘Rise up, that I may slay you as you have slain my child!’ On this the merchant asked: ‘How have I slain your child?’ The other said: ‘When you threw the stones of the dates you had eaten, they struck my boy in the breast and he died forthwith.’ Then said the merchant to the Ifr(t: ‘Know, O great Ifr(t, that I am a Believer and know not how to lie. Now I have many riches and children and a wife, also I have at my home deposits which have been trust...
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