一千零一夜英文故事：Greediness can make A Man Blind

Long ago there lived a merchant Abdullah. He was very rich, but he was very greedy. One day he loaded his forty camels with costly² spices to sell in a far away city in Arabia. He sold all the spices there. He halted in an inn to have lunch on the way back. There a Holy man met Abdullah and they became friends then. 

 

The Holy man described about the secret land of enormous wealth. 

 

"I also have heard about it “ Abdullah said with a smile. 

 

The Holy man said, “If you bring your camels there, we will load a lot of precious stones like diamonds, rubies³ and gold." Abdullah nodded his head as a symbol of acceptance. The Holy man further said that half of the load should be given to him. Abdullah thought that it was reasonable. So he agreed the offer. 

 

Both of them travelled and reached the land fully⁴ surrounded by beautiful mountains. The Holy man sprinkled some white powder on the ground, taken from a small box he had. Suddenly clouds of smoke came from the powder. After, all the smoke had settled down, he saw a way there. When both of them went through the path they found a cave with full of gems⁵ and gold coins. 

 

The Holy man asked Abdullah to come in. He moved inside the cave. There he saw the treasure which he never had seen before. He quickly took them and filled his bags and loaded them on the camels. When he completed the loading of all the forty camels, the Holy man told Abdullah that he should take twenty camels, as his share. 

 

On hearing that Abdullah said to the Holy man, “ why are you in need of such a wealth?, you may take only ten. I will take thirty". 

 

The Holy man agreed to that with a smile. Some time later, the greedy Abdullah again said, “Even the ten would be a burden to a Holy man like you, so you may take five only". 

 

Again the Holy man agreed. But Abdullah was not satisfied with that. So he asked him to give the five also to him. The Holy man nodded his head with a smile. 

 

Even then Abdullah was not satisfied. So he again asked him to give the magical powder too as the Holy man needed it no more. Only then the holy man warned Abdullah that the powder might cause danger if it was not used properly. 

 

Further he said that it turned everything to gold when rubbed on the left eye. “But you would be blind if you rubbed it on your right eye’’he said. 

 

As his greed¹ grew more, Abdullah did not care about the danger. He compelled the holy man to give the powder. After a while the holy man gave the magical powder with the box and left the place. 

 

Abdullah could not control his curiosity. He quickly started to rub some powder on his left eye. All of a sudden the entire thing which he saw with his left eye changed into gold. Then he thought that if he rubbed the powder on both the eyes, the whole world would turn as gold. 

 

Ignoring the warning of the Holy man, he rubbed the powder on his right eye also. At the very next movement he became blind. He cried with pain and said,"God…I was too greedy". But it was too late, for he had become totally blind. 

分享到：