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if thy countryman had a mind to transport a thousand loads of costly stuffs, he could do so.’ ‘He would take them from one of his store-houses,’ answered Ali, ‘and miss nought thereof.’
Presently, up came a beggar and went the round of the merchants. One gave him a para and another a doit, but most of them gave him nothing, till he came to Marouf, who pulled out a handful of gold and gave it to him, whereupon he blessed him and went away. The merchants marvelled at this and said, ‘Verily, this is a king’s giving, for he gave the beggar gold without count; and except he were a man of vast wealth, he had not given a beggar a handful of gold.’ After awhile, there came to him a poor woman and he gave her a handful of gold; whereupon she went away, blessing him, and told the other beggars, who came to him, one after another, and he gave them each a handful of gold, till he had made an end of the thousand dinars.
Then he smote hand upon hand and said, ‘God is our sufficiency and excellent is He in whom we trust!’ Quoth the Provost, ‘What ails thee, O merchant Marouf?’ And he answered, ‘It seems that the most part of the people of this city are poor and miserable: had I known this, I would have brought with me a large sum of money in my saddle-bags and given alms thereof to the poor. I fear me I may be long abroad[1] and it is not in my nature to refuse a beggar; and I have no money left: so, if a poor man come to me, what shall I say to him?’ ‘Say, “God provide thee!”’[2] said the Provost; but Marouf replied, ‘That is not of my wont and I am vexed because of this. Would I had other thousand dinars, wherewith
