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of wealth. Then on an auspicious day a son was born that delighted the eyes of men. On the day that his navelstring was to be cut a great treasure was found full of jewels and gold. Then his father and mother made a great feast in honour of his birth, and for the sake of showing respect to the gods and spiritual teachers, and gave him the name of Dhanya.* When the due time arrived, he was sent to the school where reading and writing were taught, and he studied under a teacher of accomplishments. His four brothers were hostile to him, but his parents rebuked them. Then the brothers asked their parents why they treated him with so much respect. Thereupon their parents said: 'He possesses many great qualities, and therein you are not equal to him ; for this reason we treat this son with so much respect. The sons said: “Then, put us all to the test.' Then they gave to each of them thirty-two rupees, and said: Trade with these.' So the sons set out to do their best. Dhanya, being clever in all accomplishments, bought a very strong ram, and made it fight for a stake of one thousand dináras with the prince's ram, and it beat the prince's ram. So Dhanya came home immediately with a ram and a thousand dináras ; but the others gained no profit, as they had not acquired merit in a former life, and came home at the end of the day with downcast faces. The next day those four sons said: 'Father, try us once more.' So he gave sixty cowries to each of them. Those four sons went on buying and selling, but made no profit; on the contrary, they suffered loss. Now, it happened that in that very city there lived a merchant named Mahádhana, who was a thoroughgoing miser. He acquired wealth by various undertakings, but would not give half a mite of it away in charity, or help his relations in any way. To make a long story short, he would not spend even on his own person. When entreated by applicants, he flew into a passion, and when he saw others giving away anything, he spoke angry words to them. It happened that a fiery fever
* I.e., Fortunatus. In many European stories one brother is more lucky in his undertakings than the others. See Grimm's No. 36
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