A prince from the illustrious house of the Abbasids, descendants of the Prophet's uncle, led a modest life in Mosul, Iraq. His family suffered the blows of fate and now lived the life of ordinary working people.
And so three generations passed, the family gradually got back on its feet, and the prince reached the position of a small merchant.
According to the custom among the Arab nobility, this man should have been named Daud al-Abbasi, but he simply called himself Daud, son of Altaf.
All day long he sat in the market, selling beans and herbs, thereby trying to improve the family's affairs. This went on for several years until Daoud fell in love with Zubaida Ibnat Tawil, the daughter of a rich merchant. She would willingly marry him, but in her family there was a custom according to which the future son-in-law must match a rare gem chosen by the bride's father - in order to prove his enterprise and wealth.
After a preliminary discussion of the conditions, Daud was shown a magnificent ruby, which Tawil intended to test his daughter’s chosen one. The young merchant’s heart became heavy - it was not just a stone of the purest water, it was so large and of such a rare color that the mines of Badakhshan showed such gems to the world no more often than once every thousand years.
Time passed, and Daoud went over in his mind all the ways to find the funds necessary to at least begin the search for the stone. In the end, one jeweler decided to send heralds to all parts of the world, offering whoever could get the right stone not only his house and everything he owned, but also three-quarters of every penny he would earn in his entire life. This was the only way to try to find the ruby.
Daoud did just that.
Day after day, heralds spread the news that a ruby of incomparable beauty, color and transparency was being sought.
People from near and far began to come to him to see if their stone would be suitable.
Almost three years passed in this way, and Daoud became convinced that there was no ruby that could at least partially compare with the splendor of the one his bride’s father had chosen, neither in the Arab countries, nor in Ajam, nor in Khorasan and India, not in Africa and in the West, not in Java and Ceylon.
Zubeida and Daoud were completely desperate. It seemed that they would never find each other, since the girl’s father was adamant and refused to accept a jewel smaller than a matching stone for his ruby.
One evening, when Daoud was sitting in his garden, trying for the thousandth time to figure out a way to get Zubeida’s hand, he saw a lanky, emaciated man in front of him. He had a staff in his hand, a dervish cap on his head, and a cast begging bowl hung from his belt.
- Peace be with you, oh my king! — Daoud said the traditional greeting, standing up.
“Daoud Abbasi, descendant of the house of Quraish,” said the one who appeared, “I, one of the guardians of the Messenger’s treasures, have appeared to help you in your dire need.” You are looking for the incomparable ruby. I will provide it to you from your inherited treasures, which are kept by mendicant trustees.
Looking at him, Daoud said:
“All the treasures that our house owned were given away, sold, stolen centuries ago. We have nothing left except our name, but we don’t use it either, for fear of dishonoring it. What kind of inherited treasures can we talk about?
“About that part of them that survived precisely because it was not left in the hands of the family,” answered the dervish, “for first of all they rob those who are known to have something to steal.” Once this is done, thieves no longer know where to look. This is the first of the security measures for trustees.
Remembering that many dervishes are famous for their eccentricities, Daoud cautiously remarked:
“Who would leave priceless treasures like Tawil’s gem in the hands of a ragged beggar?” And what tramp and beggar, who has at least one such thing, will be able to protect it and resist the desire to sell it in order to squander the proceeds with reckless recklessness?
Dervish responds:
“My son, this is precisely the kind of reasoning one should expect from people.” Dervishes walk around in rags - and people sincerely believe that the dervish wants to dress up. If someone has jewelry, people sincerely believe that the person will squander it - unless, of course, he is a thrifty merchant. Your reasoning is exactly what helps to secure our treasure.
“Then take me there,” said Daoud, “to put an end to my doubts and fears.”
The dervish dressed him as a blind man, blindfolded him, put him on a donkey, and they rode somewhere for several days and nights. Then they dismounted and made their way through the mountain cleft. When the bandage was removed from Daud, he saw a cave turned into a treasury. Jewels lay everywhere - an incredible, innumerable scattering of excellent gems.
- Are these the treasures of my ancestors? “I have never heard of the existence of anything like this, not even in the time of Harun al-Rashid,” Daud said.
“Be sure, the treasures belong to your home,” said the dervish, “and that’s not all - only gems are stored in this cave, you can choose from them.” There are others too.
- And this is mine?
- It's yours.
“Then I’ll take everything,” said Daoud. Greed overwhelmed him at the sight of the treasures.
“You will only take what you came for,” said the dervish, “for you are just as incapable of properly managing this wealth as your ancestors.” If this were not so, the trustees would have returned the treasures centuries ago.
Daoud chose a single ruby that exactly matched Tawil's, and the dervish brought it back in the same way. Daoud and Zubeida got married.
They say that this is how the treasures of the house again fall into the hands of the real heirs whenever there is a real need for them.
Today, guardians do not always look like dervishes in patched robes. Sometimes they seem to an outsider to be the most ordinary people. And yet these people will not return the treasure, unless there is a genuine need for it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru