180 Haroun, the Lonely Man of Shiraz. [ Ave. 
was ancient when he died, he had never either wedded, as heaven 
enjoins, nor had he, till thy begetting, indulged in the sin of dalliance, 
which heaven forbids, for his one god was gain; but in an evil hour, 
having indulged with the enemies of Mahomet in forbidden wine, as 
fire begets fire, so sin begat sin; thy mother fell in his way, and, more 
from the love of his gold than the desire of his love, she went to his 
bed, and thou wast begotten,-to be left, after them, a living memorial 
of their dead deeds of sin and shame. Thy mother, however, reaped 
not the-corn she thought she had securely sown, for the old merchant, 
in his more sober hours, saw that the eye of her design looked into his 
coffers, and he cast her off with a wanton’s morning wages—a little gold 
and much loathing. Thou, poor child of sin, wast born in the very 
rising of that moon which set on thy father’s grave, and wast never 
acknowledged for his son, for indeed he never beheld thee, nor did he 
know of thy birth, else perhaps his heart, though locked and sealed 
with avarice, might have opened at beholding the son of his old age, 
and melted to pity of thy innocent helplessness; but it was ordained 
otherwise, and heaven is just and merciful. Thy miserable mother died 
in giving thee life, and thou wast all-deserted, except by the succouring 
hand of the good Providence, who poured the milk of a mother between 
thy little lips from the bosom of a stranger ; and thus thou wast reared 
to live, and, from an infant, became that goodly tree, when its fruits 
are good, a man. The hardness, and neglect, and poverty of thy 
youth thou thyself art acquainted withal, I need not therefore remem- 
ber them for thee; but think not they were unobserved, or that they will 
go unrewarded: no, for although the son of sin, thou hast never shewn 
the vices of thy parents, but hast lived soberly, chastely, and honestly 
by the unprofitable sweat of thy brow—not, indeed, without some 
murmurings at thy poor estate, yet still with no wicked impugning of the 
wise will of heaven, which better knows and regulates than man what and 
when it shall give, and when and what it shall take away. This for- 
bearance and these virtues are now to be rewarded. Know, then, that 
the treasure which thou didst this day discover was a parcel only of the 
wealth of thy father, a little part, for under the same wave thou shalt 
find still twenty jars of gold and precious jewels, each one worth a 
monarch’s crown and a king’s ransom.” Haroun, at this news, started 
violently from his couch: but the dream had too fast chained his senses 
to suffer him to awake. The beneficent Being continued. ‘“ Be wise, 
Haroun, in thy happiness, and be tongueless in thy secrecy. Let 
the king, thy master, enjoy in quietness the treasures he has claimed, 
so shall he not disturb thee in the possession of the treasures which 
still are thine. These thou wilt bring up from the bosom of the waters 
by night, letting none but the two elder of the boys, now thy children, 
know the secret of their concealment, for these, by a charm I have 
placed upon their tongues, are made trustworthy, though they were 
the sons of one whom honesty might never trust. Be not too prodigal 
in the show of thy great fortunes, but live wisely, and then thou shalt 
not fail to live virtuously ; for who that is wise but must understand the 
worth and value of virtue, so as resolutely: to eschew evil. Be a/hus- 
band to the women now thine, who may be brought back to goodness’: 
for there is nothing so vile but has a seed of virtue in it, which, though 
it lies unrooted in the bosom, as upon stony ground, may, with the 
culture of a careful hand, become instinct with being, and bring forth 
