We have been doing

"When we sailed from here," said my brother, "we first came to a city called Kufa, where we sold the cloth we took with us for twenty cents a book, and made a lot of money. Then we bought a lot of Persian silk, which was cheap and fine, and sent it to Basra and sold it for one to four, and then we went to another city called Calha, where we did a deal and made a lot of money, so we had more and more money."

They talked with great relish of the cities they had passed and the deals they had done. Surprised and incomprehensible, I interposed: "If you two have had such good fortune, and have made so much money, how can you come back empty-handed and almost naked?"

They sighed and said, "We have been doing business abroad for a long time and making a lot of money, so we decided to go back to our hometown. So we packed up our capital and all our gains in the ship, and set sail for Basra. We sailed for three days on our way home without a hitch. On the fourth day, the storm changed, and a hurricane whipped up the waves and rushed upon our boat, which rose and fell with the water. The waves crash out of the spray, like a hot flame. In the midst of the storm and the raging sea, the ship was finally thrown on the rocks and broke up. All the people, money and cargo on board sank in the sea. All day and night we struggled against the sea. When we were exhausted and nearly swallowed by the sea, we were rescued by a boat that had passed by on the orders of Allah. Since then, we have followed others on their travels, wandering from one place to another, begging for survival and suffering. In order to stay alive, he finally had to take off his clothes and sell them. We had to go through a lot to get back to Basra. If it had not been for such a calamity, we would have been as rich as princes and lords, but it was destined to be so. What could we do?"

"The brothers need not be troubled by this. You two were lucky enough to get out safely. Allah since this arrangement, you should be grateful. Money is a thing away from you, don't regret it too much. The poet sings well:

When a man is out of danger,

See money as a scrap of paper.

Now I can see my fortune as my father's legacy and share it equally with my brothers." Then I invited a well-respected notary to take out all the cash, and he divided it into three parts, each of us taking a share.

After dividing the money, I said to my brothers, "Allah will bless anyone who works hard to earn a living here. Now you should each open a shop and run it well. Whatever is destined to happen will happen in due course."

I ran for them, got two shops, and laid out the goods, and when all was in order, I said to them: "You two are in business here. Any money earned can be saved. Your food, drink and other necessities will be borne entirely by me."

Since then, I have been meticulous care, take care of them.

They did business in the shop during the day and lived in my house at night. I never let them spend the money they earned. I only wanted them to save up so that they could make the business bigger. Whenever we sat and talked together, they would always praise the virtues of being away from home, and repeat their accounts of their success there, so as to encourage and encourage me to go there with them.

Abdullah turned to the dogs and said, "Brother! Is that what happened?"

The two dogs proved that he was telling the truth by lowering their heads and closing their eyes.

Later, the two elder brothers kept telling me in front of me that doing business in the countryside makes more money, easy to get rich and other advantages, and then pestered me to go with them to the countryside to seek wealth. I had to. I finally agreed to what they wanted.

So, in partnership with my two brothers, we chartered a ship and set out from Basra with a large supply of all kinds of valuable goods and provisions. Sailing for days and nights through the rough seas, he came to a city where he made his trade. We sold the cloth we brought with us and bought some local specialties. We made a lot of money. Then we left the city again.

And so we went from place to place, city to city. Wherever we passed, we traded and made a handsome profit. Our surplus is growing day by day.

One day our ship was passing an island when the captain ordered us to anchor and said:

"Passengers, let us all go ashore, and split up to find water and quench our thirst."

The passengers responded to the captain's call and went ashore, and I myself joined them in searching for water. As I walked slowly along the mountain path, I suddenly saw a white snake running forward for its life, followed closely by an ugly, thick black snake. After a while, the black snake caught up with the white snake, and oppressed and tortured the white snake violently with its tail. The white snake was tortured. When I saw this, I could not resist it any longer, so I picked up a piece of granite weighing about five pounds and threw it at the black snake, hitting it right on the head and killing it. Just then the white snake was transformed into a slender and beautiful young woman. She came to me with a smile, kissed my hand, and said:

"May Allah protect you from shame in this life on the one hand, and from being burned at the stake in the next." After praying for me, the girl continued, "Young man, you have protected me, and after accepting your kindness, I will repay you."

With that, she pointed to the ground, and a crack opened. Then she jumped off, and the crack closed again. Looking at all this, I knew she was a god. I looked back at the black snake. Flames were rising from its body and it was slowly burning into a heap of ashes. That evening, curious, I returned to my companions and told them what had happened to me. This night, we spent the night in the mountains.