" He rejoined, "Thy calling is of
no account in our city, where not a soul understandeth science or even
writing, or aught save money-making." Then said I, "By Allah, I know
nothing but what I have mentioned," and he answered, "Gird thy
middle and take thee a hatchet and a cord, and go and hew wood in
the wold for thy daily bread till Allah send thee relief, and tell
none who thou art lest they slay thee."
Then he bought me an ax and a rope and gave me in charge to
certain woodcutters, and with these guardians I went forth into the
forest, where I cut fuel wood the whole of my day and came back in the
evening bearing my bundle on my head. I sold it for half a dinar, with
part of which I bought provision, and laid by the rest. In such work I
spent a whole year, and when this was ended, I went out one day, as
was my wont, into the wilderness and, wandering away from my
companions, I chanced on a thickly grown lowland in which there was an
abundance of wood. So I entered and I found the gnarled stump of a
great tree and loosened the ground about it and shoveled away the
earth. Presently my hatchet rang upon a copper ring, so I cleared away
the soil and behold, the ring was attached to a wooden trapdoor.
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