In Baghdad, a merchant died, leaving a thousand gold coins for each of his three sons. They set up shops as merchants. After a while, the eldest brother was bored and wished to travel. He sold off his shop and its wares and went off to try his fortune. He returned after a year and came to his youngest brother. He looked like a beggar, for he had lost everything. The youngest brother had used his money wisely and increased it to two thousand gold coins. So, he gave half of that to his elder brother who set up his shop again in the market. Sometime later, the second brother wanted to see the world. Therefore, selling off his shop, he went away with a caravan. Like his elder brother, he returned poor and broken. Once again, the youngest brother helped him and he too started his shop. For some years, things went well with the brothers.
The Jealous Brothers
Sometime later, the two elder brothers persuaded the youngest one to travel. He had six thousand gold pieces. He gave them a thousand each, and buried three thousand in his house. They loaded a ship with goods and set off, trading at various ports. At one port, a beautiful, but poor woman, asked the youngest brother to marry her. Reluctantly, he agreed. She turned out to be kind and good and her husband was very happy as they prospered. But this made the elder brothers very jealous. One night, they threw the couple into the sea! They did not get drowned, for the wife was actually a fairy with magic powers. She whisked them back to their home. But she was so angry that she decided to punish his brothers. The younger brother dug up the coins and set up shop. Then he found two black dogs in his house! They were his brothers! The fairy had vanished.
