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the Jew?” “Ay,” replied Alaeddin, “its like and its brother.” “And how much,” asked the goldsmith, “useth he to give thee to its price?” And Alaeddin said, “He useth to give me a dinar.”
When[1] the goldsmith heard this, “Out on this accursed one,” cried he, “who fleeceth the servants of God the Most High!” Then he looked at Alaeddin and said to him, “O my son, this Jew is a cheat, who hath cheated thee and laughed at thee, for that the silver of this thy platter is pure and fine; and I have weighed it and find its worth threescore dinars and ten; so, an it please thee take its price, take [it].” Accordingly, he counted out to him seventy dinars and he took them and thanked him for his kindness, in that he had shown him the Jew’s trickery. Thenceforward, whenassoever the price of one platter was spent, he would carry another to the old goldsmith, and on this wise he and his mother increased in substance; but they ceased not to live at their sufficiency,[2] midwise [betwixt rich and poor],[3] without excessive spending[4] or squandering. As for Alaeddin, he left idle-
