es.

Abul Hassan's eyes sparkled with desire. He was naturally a very
avaricious man, and the sight of the gold awakened all his greed. It
had been there in his warehouse, all unknown to him, for seven years.
He felt as though he had been tricked, for, thought he, "All this time
I might have been using this money to advantage by trading with it and
with no harm to any one, for I could have replaced it at any time I
heard Ali Cogia was about to return."

For a while he stood there lost in thought. Then he returned the gold
to the jar, covered it over with olives as before, and replaced the
cover, and taking up the empty dish and the light he returned to his
wife.

"You were quite right," said he carelessly. "The olives were spoiled,
so I did not bring any."

"You should not even have opened the jar," said his wife. "Heaven
grant that no evil may come upon us for this."

To this remark Abul Hassan made no reply, and soon after he and his
wife retired to rest. But the merchant could not sleep. All night he
tossed and twisted, thinking of the gold and planning how he could
make it his own, and it was not until morning that he fell into a
troubled sleep.

The next day he arose early and as soon as the bazaar opened he went
out and bought a quantity of olives. He brought them home and carried
them into the warehouse secretly, and without his wife's knowing
anything about it. Then he again opened Ali Cogia's jar, and having
emptied it of its contents, he filled it with fresh olives and
replaced the cover in such a way that no one, looking at it, would
have known it had been disturbed. He then threw the spoiled olives
away and hid the gold in a secret place known only to himself.

About a month after this Ali Cogia returned to Bagdad. As his own
house was still rented he took a room in a khan and at once hastened
to Abul Hassan's house to get his jar.

Abul Hassan was confounded when he saw Ali Cogia enter his house, for
he had managed to convince himself that Ali must be dead. This he had
done to try to excuse himself in his own eyes for taking the gold.
However he hid his confusion as best he could, and made the returned
traveller welcome, and asked him how he had fared in his journeyings.

Ali Cogia answered his inquiries politely, but he was uneasy and
restless, and as soon as he could make the opportunity he inquired
about the olive jar he had left in the warehouse.

"The jar is there where you put it, I am su