out to see his friend
the merchant, who received him with open arms and many expressions of
surprise. After a few moments given to inquiries Ali Cogia begged the
merchant to hand him over the vase that he had taken care of for so
long.

"Oh certainly," said he, "I am only glad I could be of use to you in
the matter. Here is the key of my shop; you will find the vase in the
place where you put it."

Ali Cogia fetched his vase and carried it to his room at the inn, where
he opened it. He thrust down his hand but could feel no money, but
still was persuaded it must be there. So he got some plates and
vessels from his travelling kit and emptied out the olives. To no
purpose. The gold was not there. The poor man was dumb with horror,
then, lifting up his hands, he exclaimed, "Can my old friend really
have committed such a crime?"

In great haste he went back to the house of the merchant. "My friend,"
he cried, "you will be astonished to see me again, but I can find
nowhere in this vase a thousand pieces of gold that I placed in the
bottom under the olives. Perhaps you may have taken a loan of them for
your business purposes; if that is so you are most welcome. I will
only ask you to give me a receipt, and you can pay the money at your
leisure."

The merchant, who had expected something of the sort, had his reply all
ready. "Ali Cogia," he said, "when you brought me the vase of olives
did I ever touch it?"

"I gave you the key of my shop and you put it yourself where you liked,
and did you not find it in exactly the same spot and in the same state?
If you placed any gold in it, it must be there still. I know nothing
about that; you only told me there were olives. You can believe me or
not, but I have not laid a finger on the vase."

Ali Cogia still tried every means to persuade the merchant to admit the
truth. "I love peace," he said, "and shall deeply regret having to
resort to harsh measures. Once more, think of your reputation. I
shall be in despair if you oblige me to call in the aid of the law."

"Ali Cogia," answered the merchant, "you allow that it was a vase of
olives you placed in my charge. You fetched it and removed it
yourself, and now you tell me it contained a thousand pieces of gold,
and that I must restore them to you! Did you ever say anything about
them before? Why, I did not even know that the vase had olives in it!
You never showed them to me. I wonder you have not demanded pe