Then he married a young and handsome wife. By-and-by the wife
bore him a son, and then she died.

This son was the pride of his father's heart; but he was as vain
and foolish as his father was wise, so that all men called 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