A SILLY MERCHANT AND A WISE MERCHANT

There lived a wise merchant called Abu. One day, Abu decided to travel throughout the kingdom and ware his goods. So, he went to the city and bought a great supply of goods and loaded them into his ox wagons. It so happened that, a stupid young merchant named Ali was also buying goods in the same city. As, he was planning to go to different places and sell his things.

Both Abu and Ali started their journey at the same time. Abu thought, " We can~ot travel together, for the men will find it hard to get wood and water, and there will not be enough grass for so many oxen. Either he or I ought to go first,"

So Abu went to Ali and said, "Brother, will you go before or come after me ? " The selfish and foolish Ali thought, " I shall go first. I shall then travel on a road that is not cut up. The oxen will have plenty of grass to eat. Also, I shall sell my goods at the price I like"So Ali said, " I shall go first."

When Ali went off gaily with his group of men and oxen, Abu said to himself, "Ali will smoothen up the bumpy road. His oxen will eat the old inferior grass, while mine will eat the freshly grown green grass. Also, I will not not have to bother about setting prices, because by the time I reach the city he will set the price."

By and by, Ali came to the desert. Before entering the desert, Ali filled great water-jars with water and· loaded them onto his wagons. Now, in the middle of this vast desert, lived a wicked desert demon. This demon misled the travelers in the desert, kidnapped them and made slaves of them.

When this demon saw Ali approaching, he disguised himself as a gentleman and gained a wagon with magic. The demon put mud on the wagon, and wet grass upon the oxen. Then, he dipped his clothes and made his hair all wet.
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The demon neared Ali, and said pleasantly, " Where are you going?" Ali replied, "We are going across the desert. But friend , you come dripping with water and mud. Did you come through a stream?"

The demon answered , I, Just three miles away, there is a big pond, filled with water. By the way brother, it seems that you are carrying water in those big tumblers, but there is no need of it Empty out all that water and go on easily," Saying this, the demon disappeared on the horizons.

Foolish Ali believed the demon and threw away the water. Then, he and his men traveled three
miles, but, there was no pond to be seen. Now, as the men had no water to drink, hey became
very tired and went to sleep, feeling very thirsty and weak.

At midnight, the demon came to the spot and bound the men who were too tired to fight. Then, he took away the rest of the men and the oxen along with him. But, he left the wagons where they were

A mouth later, Abu followed the same route as Ali. The demon met Abu as well, and tried the same trick on him. But Abu said, "We won't throwaway the water until we cross the desert." On hearing this, the demon said nothing and went away. But Abu's companions said, " Let us throwaway the water-jars and move faster with lighter carts!"

Abu asked the men, " Have you ever heard anyone say that there was a lake or pond in this desert?" "We never l1eard of a pond or lake, " the men replied. "Does any man feel a wind laden

with dampness blowing against him?" " No, sir," the men answered. "That was a demon in disguise," said Abu. "It was his ploy to make us throw the water. If we had thrown away the water, he would have captured us when we got tired and made us his slaves." The men were surprised at the cleverness of their leader and decided not to throwaway the water.

Abu and his men drove on, and before nightfall, they came upon the loaded wagons deserted by Ali. Seeing this, Abu understood everything that had happened. Then, he had his wagons drawn up in a circle.

Abu placed some of the men and his oxen in the middle of the circle. And then he and the headmen stood on guard, with swords in hands. But the demon did not bother them.

At dawn, Abu and his men woke up and started their journey again. They also took along the wagons left by Ali. That evening, Abu crossed the desert and reached the other city. There, he sold all the goods and reaped great profits.

- The END -