170 Haroun, the Lonely Man of Shiraz. [ Aue. 
of Sadi the philosopher. Next to his devotions, it is a believing 
Persian’s duty to ablute himself morning and evening. Haroun, who 
was either too much a lover of loneliness, or too sullen to visit the public 
baths, contented himself with the more wholesome waters of the river ; 
_and stripping his scanty and tattered vestments off, he plunged into the 
stream with so hearty a good-will, that you might have supposed he 
never meant to come up again with a living face to the light. He came 
_ up again, however, after some moments, and it was easy to perceive, by 
_the length of time he had passed under the water, that something 
extraordinary had kept him there longer than was usual, for he came up 
_ to the surface gasping for breath, and shouting out vehemently, when 
he had caught it again, ‘“‘ Oh great and good Alla ! what hast thou sent me 
here?” After much struggling, and diving down again and again, he ap- 
peared to be moving some heavy body from the deep water to the shoals 
of the river side, a labour which he very ingeniously performed by striking 
out backwards with his feet below the wave, his head still being above 
it. After a few moments’ rest, he rolled on to the shore a huge earthern 
jar, such as is used by the merchants of the East to transport their oils 
in from trading-mart to trading-mart. Without waiting to dress himself, 
further than to slip into his loose trowsers and poor pelisse, he began, 
with many sinewy efforts, to rear the ponderous jar, heavier than 
its size might seem to warrant, with the weight ofits contents. Having 
placed it onend, he perceived that its mouth was hermetically sealed : 
he looked about, therefore, for some instrument to break it, and finding 
nothing so capable as a huge stone which had been flung up by the 
tide, he seized it, and lifting it high over his head with both hands, 
dropped it, like the hammer of a smith on his anvil, upon the mouth of 
the jar, which broke in with the blow, and displayed to his staring eyes 
contents more precious than the oil of Tarshish—gold and diamonds ! 
Poor Haroun almost shrieked with surprise and with the agitation which 
this sudden gift of fortune’s had struck through all his senses. After 
some delirious moments spent in shouts of joy, in clapping his hands, 
and dancing extravagantly about this precious jar, he threw himself, in 
his delirium, on the ground, and gave praise to Mahomet, who was 
then the best of prophets, for Haroun then was the best of believers. 
Then leaping lightly on his feet, he began to think how he might 
conceal and convey away with secresy his new-found treasures, which 
would else be no sooner found than lost; but the extravagance of his 
mind would allow him no cool moment for thought, and all he could 
do was to dabble with his hands among his gold and jewels; and now 
put on the seal, and now snatch it off, to gaze with more than a miser’s 
fondness on his glistening darlings. Then he shut them down again, 
and cried out, “Oh, Alla! what a murmuring wretch was I, to agree with 
the blasphemous Sadi, that though whatever is was to be, yet nothing is 
as it should be!” And then he fell to dancing again, and hugging the 
jar with embracing arms, as fond as if it had been a fair-eyed girl of the 
valleys of Circassia. At length, his delirium being spent, and his joy, 
from its intensity, turning to tears, he sat himself down by the jar, still 
clasping it within his arms, and fell into this fantastic rumination. 
“ Surely Iam son to Fortune, and never knew Penury but by his hated 
name, or, if I did, never shall be more acquainted with him, for I am 
_ nowricher than Ophir for gold, and brighter than Golconda for diamonds ! 
In riches, I am the companion of kings, for greatness ever ‘follows 
