led him Aben Hassen
the Fool, as they called the father Aben Hassen the Wise.

Then one day death came and called the old man, and he left his son all
that belonged to him--even the Talisman of Solomon.

Young Aben Hassen the Fool had never seen so much money as now belonged
to him. It seemed to him that there was nothing in the world he could
not enjoy. He found friends by the dozens and scores, and everybody
seemed to be very fond of him.

He asked no questions of the Talisman of Solomon, for to his mind there
was no need of being both wise and rich. So he began enjoying himself
with his new friends. Day and night there was feasting and drinking and
singing and dancing and merrymaking and carousing; and the money that
the old man had made by trading and wise living poured out like water
through a sieve.

Then, one day came an end to all this junketing, and nothing remained to
the young spend-thrift of all the wealth that his father had left him.
Then the officers of the law came down upon him and seized all that was
left of the fine things, and his fair-weather friends flew away from his
troubles like flies from vinegar. Then the young man began to think of
the Talisman of Wisdom. For it was with him as it is with so many of
us: When folly has emptied the platter, wisdom is called in to pick the
bones.

"Tell me," said the young man to the Talisman of Solomon, "what shall I
do, now that everything is gone?"

"Go," said the Talisman of Solomon, "and work as thy father has worked
before thee. Advise with me and become prosperous and contended, but do
not go dig under the cherry-tree in the garden."

"Why should I not dig under the cherry-tree in the garden?" says the
young man; "I will see what is there, at any rate."

So he straightway took a spade and went out into the garden, where the
Talisman had told him not to go. He dug and dug under the cherry-tree,
and by-and-by his spade struck something hard. It was a vessel of brass,
and it was full of silver money. Upon the lid of the vessel were these
words, engraved in the handwriting of the old man who had died:

"My son, this vessel full of silver has been brought from the
treasure-house of the ancient kings of Egypt. Take this, then, that thou
findest; advise with the talisman; be wise and prosper."

"And they call that the Talisman of Wisdom," said the young man. "If I
had listened to it I never would have found this treasure."

The next day he began to