“Oh, uncle, what are these?”
“They are,” said the good old merchant in grave and reverent tones, “the honour of neighbours, the devotion of friends, the admiration of all mankind, a permanent self-respect, and—what is more important than them all—the strong peace of the soul.”
The intolerable howl of the muezzin checked his nephews’ reply, and they, their happy eyes shining as though they themselves were the recipients of these seven figures went home in a dream of gold.
XIII
Al-Fulús al-Masnú Min al-Qirtás, or “The Money Made of Paper”
On the appointed day of the next week the little boys were glad to observe that the number of public executions had fallen so far below the average that their uncle’s entertainment of them could begin quite half an hour before the usual time. They were most eager to discover what further good fortune had befallen him by the Mercy of Allah.
The amiable old man opened his mouth and spoke:
“Two million gold pieces is a respectable sum of money. It weighs about thirty tons … yes,” he calculated rapidly on his bejewelled fingers, “about thirty tons. The city could just produce it after scouring the country for miles around, searching all the more modest houses and melting down sundry antique lamps, wedding rings, sacred shrines and other gewgaws.
“The complete withdrawal of so much metal left them a little embarrassed for coin in everyday affairs, but really that was not my business. I packed a hundred strong iron chests with the bullion, reserving a few thousands in a leather bag, set them in carts, added to my retinue a hundred armed men, marked my cases plainly in large white letters ‘Sand consigned to the sultan,’ and had all made ready to set out: but whither?
“Until a man’s wealth has grown so great that he can command the whole state, he is always in some peril. He is envied and a target for vile taxes—nay for confiscation. … I had not forgotten the dreadful lesson of the island! I pondered on what I had read of various regions, and had rejected each in turn as dangerous, when I heard by chance a man saying to his neighbour (with whom he was quarrelling), ‘Remember! This is not the country of Dirak where there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.’ As you may well believe I deeply considered these random words, and within an hour I was giving an excellent meal to a learned man who taught in the University, famous for his knowledge of foreign constitutions. I spoke of the Franks, of the Maghreb, of Rome. On all he was most interesting and full: he spoke also with contempt of certain wild tribes in the hills who have a strange custom of choosing a retired Chief annually from among the less wealthy members, under the barbarous error that modest means conduce to honesty and sharpen judgment.
“ ‘As in Dirak,’ said I casually.
“ ‘In Dirak?’ he exclaimed astonished. ‘Why! Who can have told you such tales? Dirak is the best administered, the most flourishing and the strongest of all states!’
“ ‘No doubt,’ I answered, ‘but what has that to do with it?’
“ ‘Why,’ said he, in sudden anger (for this kind of learned man is commonly half-mad) ‘it has everything to do with it! Such advantages can only come from the secure rule of the rich. … A fool could see that!’
“I soothed him by immediate agreement, professed my admiration at his vast store of knowledge and pumped him all that afternoon on Dirak.
“It seemed that in this admirable region the rich rule unquestioned to the immense profit of the state. The sultan is kept on a strict allowance that he may be the puppet of the great merchants, bankers and landholders who are the masters of the commonwealth and him. The middle classes are allowed a livelihood but no possessions, and are proud of their small incomes, which usually put them above the artizans; while the populace are content to swarm in hovels underground, to work hard all day and all the year round for a little food and to revere and acclaim the rich with frenzied cheers upon all public occasions. Laws and proclamations are purchased, and their administration is in the hands of the rich, of whom a select few sit upon the bench and condemn a fixed number of the populace, and a few of the middle classes, to imprisonment every year by way of discipline and example. No man possessing more than a hundred thousand gold pieces worth of land or stock can be punished, and if a poor man tell any unpleasing thing of such a one he is beaten till he admits his falsehood or, if he prove obstinate, slowly starved to death.
“It is a model state. All is in perfect order. The palaces of the rulers are the most magnificent in the world: all public office is faithfully and punctually performed. It is the envy of every neighbour, the pride and delight of every citizen however mean; for—what is the basis of the whole affair—every man in Dirak is esteemed by the extent of his possessions alone; writing and music and work in metals and painted tiles are esteemed for the pretty things they are: holiness is revered indeed, but confined to the well-to-do; and a man’s virtue, judgment and wit are rightly gauged by his property.
“My many adventures had somewhat blunted me to new sensations. But I confess (my dear nephews) that as I heard this tale an ecstasy filled my soul. I masked my emotions and simply said, ‘An interesting place!’
“ ‘It is reached by a plain road from here,’
