There lived once in Baghdad a very wealthy
man, who lost all his substance and became so poor, that
he could only earn his living by excessive labour. One
night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and sick at heart,
and saw in a dream one who said to him, 'Thy fortune is
at Cairo; go thither and seek it.' So he set out for Cairo;
but, when he arrived there, night overtook him and he
lay down to sleep in a mosque. Presently, as fate would
have it, a company of thieves entered the mosque and made
their way from thence into an adjoining house; but the
people of the house, being aroused by the noise, awoke
and cried out; whereupon the chief of the police came
to their aid with his officers. The robbers made off;
but the police entered the mosque and finding the man
from Baghdad asleep there, laid hold of him and beat him
with palm rods, till he was well-nigh dead. Then they
cast him into prison, where he abode three days, after
which the chief of the police sent for him and said to
him, 'From whence art thou?' 'From Baghdad,' answered
he. 'And what brought thee to Cairo?' asked the magistrate.
Quoth the Baghdadi, 'I saw in a dream one who said to
me, "Thy fortune is at Cairo; go thither to it."
But when I came hither, the fortune that he promised me
proved to be the beating I had of thee.'
The chief of the police laughed, till he showed his jaw-teeth,
and said, 'O man of little wit, thrice have I seen in
a dream one who said to me, "There is in Baghdad
a house of such a fashion and situate so-and-so, in the
garden whereof is a fountain and thereunder a great sum
of money buried. Go thither and take it." Yet I went
not; but thou, of thy little wit, hast journeyed from
place to place, on the faith of a dream, which was but
an illusion of sleep.' Then he gave him money, saying,
'This is to help thee back to thy native land.' Now the
house he had described was the man's own house in Baghdad;
so the latter returned thither, and digging underneath
the fountain in his garden, discovered a great treasure;
and thus God gave him abundant fortune.
