قاضی پسر

Chapter five

The Boy Judge

Ali had a cake shop in the city of Baghdad. He wasn’t rich but he was a good man. He worked hard.

Ali had a jar under the floor of his shop. Every week he put a small piece of gold into this jar. This money was for him when he was old and ill.

When Ali was fifty years old, he took out the jar. There were more than - thousand gold pieces inside:

‘I have a lot of money now,’ he thought. ‘I would like to see the world before I die.’

So Ali sold his shop. But there was one problem - the jar of gold. He couldn’t take it with him on the journey.

Then he had an idea. He bought some olives and put them in the jar on top of the gold. Then Ali closed the jar and took it to his friend, Husein. Husein also had a shop.

‘Please can I leave this jar of olives with you?’ he asked. ‘Of course, my friend,’ said Husein. ‘Leave the jar of olives with me. Put it here in my shop.’

Ali was away for a long time. He went to Egypt and then Syria.

One day, when Ali was in Syria, Husein s wife wanted some olives. But the shop in their street was shut.

‘There are some olives in my shop,’ said Husein. ‘Do you remember? Ali left a jar of olives with me, but he never came back. Perhaps he’s dead. So we can eat his olives.’ Husein went to his shop and opened the jar of olives. But the olives at the top were very old and dry. He put his hand down into the jar and pulled out - not an olive, but a piece of gold.

Then he pulled out more pieces of gold.

Husein was very surprised. He thought for a long time. In the end he took the olives out of the jar and threw them away. Then he took the gold out of the jar and put it under the floor of his shop. To his wife, he said only, ‘We can’t use those olives. They were too old and dry.’

Next, he bought new olives. He put them in the jar and closed it.

‘Perhaps Ali will come back,’ he thought. ‘He gave me a jar of olives. So I’ll give him back a jar of olives.’

Some weeks later, Ali came back to Baghdad after seven years. He went to Husein and asked for his jar of olives.

‘Olives?’ said Husein. ‘What olives?’

‘I left ajar of olives with you. You put it in your shop.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Husein. ‘I’m sorry, I forgot. Seven years is a long time. Let’s go to my shop and I’ll give it to you.’

When Ali saw the jar of olives, he felt very happy.

‘Thank you, my friend,’ said Ali. ‘Now I want to give you something.’

Ali put his hand in the jar and pulled out - not gold pieces, but olives. He did this again and again. In the end he said, ‘Where’s my gold? What happened to my gold?’

‘Gold? What gold?’ asked Husein.

‘I had some gold in this jar.’

‘My friend, you left ajar of olives with me. You said nothing about ajar of gold.’

‘There was gold in the jar under the olives,’ said Ali. ‘Please give it back to me.’

‘I know nothing about any gold,’ answered Husein.

They talked about this for some time. Then Ali said, ‘Let’s go to the judge. He’ll help me, you’ll see.’

Ali and Husein went to the judge.

The judge asked Ali,’ Did anybody see the gold in the jar?’

‘No,’ answered Ali.

‘Did you tell anybody about the gold in the jar?’

‘No.’

‘What did you say to Husein. What was in the jar?’

‘Olives.’

‘Ali,’ said the judge. ‘You’re an old man. You don’t remember things very well. Nobody saw the gold. You told nobody about it. So perhaps there was no gold in the jar.’

Ali was very angry with the judge, so he wrote a letter to the sultan. The sultan was very interested in Ali’s story. Now everybody in Baghdad knew about the jar of olives. But who was right - Ali or Husein?

The sultan said to his vizir, ‘Let’s walk in the streets tonight, and listen to people. What are they saying about Ali and Husein?’

That night, the sultan and his vizir saw some children in the street. The children spoke the names of Ali and Husein.

‘Those children are playing a game,’ said the vizir. ‘One boy is Ali and one is Husein. Another boy is playing the judge.’

The sultan listened to the boy judge and said, ‘That boy is very clever. He asks very good questions. Bring him to me tomorrow morning. Bring Ali and Husein, the judge, the jar of olives and two olive sellers too.’

The next day, these people came to the sultan.

‘Come, boy’ the sultan said. ‘Sit by me. Yesterday you judged Ali and Husein in play. Now you will really do it. And you,’ he said to the judge, ‘listen to this boy and learn from him. He knows about right and wrong, good men and thieves.’

The boy was very afraid, but he said, ‘Bring me the jar of olives. Now,’ he said to Ali, ‘did you give this jar to Husein?’

‘Yes,’ answered Ali.

‘Did Ali give this jar to you?’ he asked Husein.

‘Yes,’ answered Husein.

The boy pulled out some olives from the jar and ate them. Then he said to Husein, ‘These olives are good. Did you eat any?’

‘No,’ said Husein. ‘I didn’t open the jar when Ali was away from Baghdad.’

The boy gave some olives to the two olive sellers.’ Try these olives,’ he said. ‘They’re seven years old but they’re very good.’

‘Seven years old!’ cried the olive sellers. ‘These olives aren’t seven years old. No olive is good after three years. It loses its colour. These olives are this year’s olives.’

‘But Husein says these olives were in the jar for seven years,’ said the boy judge. Everybody looked at Husein. Husein’s face turned white.

‘I took the gold,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, Ali.’

So Husein lost his good name. Ali had his gold again, but lost a friend. And the boy stayed with the sultan and later was a famous judge.

‘There aren’t many good judges,’ said Shahriar.

‘I know another story about a judge,’ said Sheherezade. ‘A judge and a dwarf. It’s very funny. But there’s no time.’

‘Yes, there’s time. I’ll give you another night.’ So the next night, Sheherezade started a new story.