In one city there lived a poor man named Ahmed. Everyone considered him a fool because he constantly said: “If only I had money, I would know what to do with it.”
One merchant heard these words and suggested to Ahmed:
“I’ll give you money, and you go trade.”
The merchant gave Ahmed some money and took him to the caravanserai, where there were merchants who were planning to go to another city.
With all the money, Ahmed bought old rags, filled several bales with them and loaded them onto the camels.
When the caravan set off and the merchants found out what goods Ahmed was carrying with him, they began to laugh:
- Wow, Akhmed, you have a lot of intelligence!
“We’ll laugh after we calculate the profits and losses,” Ahmed answered them.
A few days later, the merchant caravan arrived in a large city that stood on the banks of a large river.
The merchants entered the city and stayed in a caravanserai, and Ahmed remained on the deserted bank of the river.
He took the packs with old rags off his camels, put them in a heap and set them on fire, and when the rags burned, he scattered the ashes along the shore.
At night a school of fish swam to the shore. They came here to have fun. From their mouths, they laid large pearls, raised from the bottom of the river, on the shore, and then began to play with them.
This time the fish were unable to collect the pearls because they were not visible in the ashes.
In the morning, Ahmed swept the ashes into a huge pile, winnowed them like wheat on a threshing floor, and collected several bags of pearls.
Then he went to the caravan road, collected camel dung, kneaded it in water, prepared dungs and hid several handfuls of pearls in each of them. When he dried the dung, he had several loads of manure.
The next day, his merchant companions, having sold all their goods at the market, came to the river for Ahmed. And he sits on his packs and waits for his companions.
Seeing Ahmed's packs, the merchants began to laugh.
- So clever Ahmed! - said one merchant.
- Bartered old rags for manure at a profit! - the other one made fun.
- And now he wants to deliver this luggage to his hometown, seven days away! — the third chuckled.
- Everyone acts according to their own mind! - Ahmed calmly answered them.
- Well done, you have enough intelligence! - said the merchants and, laughing, set off.
On the seventh day, the caravan approached their hometown, and the merchants sent a messenger ahead to warn their loved ones about their safe return and successful trade.
The horseman galloped into the city, reported the good news, and then said that Ahmed had exchanged old rags for manure and was now taking it to sell at the market. This amused all the merchants of the city, except for the merchant who gave Ahmed the money.
“Now everyone will laugh at me,” he reproached himself with annoyance and did not go to meet Ahmed.
When the caravan entered the city, the merchants met their returning friends and congratulated them on their safe arrival, and only Ahmed was not congratulated. Everyone laughed at him, and in the evening the merchants had a feast. Ahmed came to this feast and began to unload his camels. The merchant who entrusted him with the money sat gloomy and did not raise his eyes out of shame. At this time, other merchants, sitting on carpets, were talking about their successful trade and who was more clever in deceiving the buyers. Each one took turns boasting about his inventions, trying to outdo each other.
When it was Ahmed's turn, the merchants asked laughing:
- What did you manage to do? How did your great mind help you? Ahmed replied:
“What was, was, and I don’t need more than what was.”
With these words, he began to pour dung from the camel's packs.
The merchants began to laugh more than ever, and the merchant who entrusted him with his money shouted at the top of his lungs:
- Get out of here, you slacker! Then Ahmed began to break the dung one by one, and sparkling pearls fell from them. The merchants, with their mouths open, looked at this wealth, and the merchant who entrusted Ahmed with the money began to crawl across the carpets like a lizard, raking up pearls.
When a whole heap of pearls grew on the carpet, Ahmed said to the merchants who were sitting in silence:
“I won’t trade and I don’t envy you.” Then he turned to the merchant who had entrusted him with the money and said:
- Take these pearls! I did not deceive the people, as you merchants deceive, and you were still ashamed to meet me.
Having said this, Ahmed left the feasters.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru