came to thee the capital--whereon thou trades"." He replied,
"When I grew up and came to man's estate, I said to my sire, 'O
my father, give me merchandise.' Quoth he, 'O my son, I have none
by me; but go thou to some merchant and take of him money and
traffic with it; and so learn to buy and sell, give and take.' So
I went to one of the traders and borrowed of him a thousand
dinars, wherewith I bought stuffs and carrying them to Damascus,
sold them there at a profit of two for one. Then I bought Syrian
stuffs and carrying them to Aleppo, made a similar gain of them;
after which I bought stuffs of Aleppo and repaired with them to
Baghdad, where I sold them with like result, two for one; nor did
I cease trading upon my capital till I was worth nigh ten
thousand ducats." Then each of the others told his friend some
such tale, till it came to Ala al-Din's turn to speak, when they
said to him, "And thou, O my lord Ala al-Din?" Quoth he, "I was
brought up in a chamber underground and came forth from it only
this week; and I do but go to the shop and return home from the
shop." They remarked, "Thou art used to wone at home and wottest
not the joys of travel, for travel is for men only." He replied,
"I reck not of voyaging and wayfaring cloth not tempt me."
Whereupon quoth one to the other, "This one is like the fish:
when he leaveth the water he dieth." Then they said to him, "O
Ala al Din, the glory of the sons of the merchants is not but in
travel for the sake of gain." Their talk angered him; so he left
them weeping-eyed and heavy-hearted and mounting his mule
returned home. Now his mother saw him in tears and in bad temper
and asked him, "What hath made thee weep, O my son?"; and he
answered, "Of a truth, all the sons of the merchants put me to
shame and said, 'Naught is more glorious for a merchant's son
than travel for gain and to get him gold.'"--And Shahrazad