Читать книгу Arabic Stories for Language Learners - Hezi Brosh - Страница 20

The Caliph and the Old Man

One day the Caliph and his minister passed by a seventy-year-old man who was planting palms. The Caliph asked him: Do you think you will eat from the fruit of these palms, though you know that it doesn’t yield until after many years?

The old man answered: They planted and we eat, and we plant and they will eat.

The Caliph was amazed at the old man’s wisdom and gave him hundred dinars. The old man took the money and said: Look, O Caliph, the palms have already paid off.

The Caliph laughed at the clever old man’s answer and gave him another hundred dinars. A smile filled the old man’s face, and he said: Each plant gives fruit once a year except my plant. It gave fruit twice.

The admiration of the king increased at the cleverness of the old man, and he ordered to another hundred dinars to be given to him. The king turned to his minister and said: Let’s go quickly from here. Otherwise, he will take all of our money because of his wisdom and presence of mind.

Detail of A Discussion Between a Mullah and an Old Man, Muhammad Zamanc.1664 and 1665, ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Folio from the Davis Album, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1915: bequeathed by Theordore M. Davis.