Meanwhile a little boy also came up, and perceiving the lunatic stopped to see his tricks.  The two friends explained their case to the lunatic, who then seemed immersed in thought for some time, after which he said, “He who took the root of that tree for a medicine also took the gold,” and having thus spoken, he turned his back upon them and went his way.  They consulted with each other what indication this remark might furnish, when the little boy who had overheard the conversation, asked what kind of tree it was.  Zayn el-Arab replied that it was a jujube tree.  The boy said, “This is an easy matter:  you ought to inquire of all the doctors of this town for whom a medicine has been prescribed of the roots of this tree.”  They greatly admired the boy’s acuteness and also of the lunatic’s lucky thought.[FN#511] The learned man was well acquainted with all the physicians of the city and made his enquiries, till he met with one who informed him that about twenty days ago he had prescribed for a merchant of the name of Khoja Semender, who suffered from asthma, and that one of the remedies was the root of that jujube tree.  The learned man soon discovered the merchant’s house, found him enjoying excellent health, and said to him, “Ah Khoja, all the goods of this world ought to be surrendered to procure health.  By the blessing of God, you have recovered your health, and you ought to give up what you found at the root of that tree, because the owner of it is a worthy man and possesses nothing else.”  The honest merchant answered, “It is true, I have found it, and it is with me.  If you will describe it I will deliver it into your hands.”  The exact sum being stated, the merchant at once delivered up the gold.

In the “Katha Sarit Sagara,” Book vi. ch. 33, we have probably the original of this last story:  A wealthy merchant provided a Brahman with a lodging near his own house, and every day gave him a large quantity of unhusked rice and other presents and in course of time he received like gifts from other great merchants.  In this way the miserly fellow gradually accumulated a thousand dinars, and going into the forest he dug a hole and buried it in the ground, and he went daily to carefully examine the spot.  One day, however, he discovered that his hoard had been stolen, and he went to his friend the merchant near whose house he lived, and, weeping bitterly, told him of his loss, and that he had resolved to go to a holy bathing-place and there starve himself to death.  The merchant tried to console him and dissuade him from his resolution, saying, “Brahman, why do you long to die for the loss of your wealth?  Wealth, like an unseasonable cloud, suddenly comes and goes.”  But the Brahman would not abandon his fixed determination to commit suicide, for wealth is dearer to the miser than life itself.  When he was about to depart for the holy place, the king, having heard of it, came and asked him, “Brahman, do you know of any mark by which you can distinguish the place where you buried your dinars?” He replied, “There is a small tree in the wood, at the foot of which I buried that money.”  Then said the king, “I will find the money and give it back to you, or I will give it you from my own treasury;—­do not commit suicide, Brahman.”