mother, rejoicing, and acquainted her with his dream; whereupon
she fell again to laughing at him and said to him, "O my son,
indeed this old man laugheth at thee, nought else; wherefore do
thou turn thy thought from him." But he said to her, "Nay, mother
mine, indeed he is soothfast and lieth not; for that, in the
first of his dealing, he tried me and now his intent is to
accomplish unto me his promise." "In any case," rejoined she,
"the thing is not toilsome; [FN#44] so do that which thou wilt,
even as he said to thee, and make proof of the matter, and God
willing, thou shalt [FN#45] return to me rejoicing; but methinketh
thou wilt return to me and say, 'Thou saidst sooth, O my mother,
in thy rede."' The prince accordingly took a pickaxe and going
down to the palace where his father was buried, fell a-delving in
the earth; nor had he dug long when, behold, there appeared to
him a ring fixed in a slab of marble. He raised the slab and
seeing a stair, descended thereby and found a great vault, all
builded with columns of marble and alabaster; then, proceeding
innerward, he found within the vault a hall which ravished the
wit, and therein eight jars of green jasper; [FN#46] and he said,
"What be these jars and what is in them?" So [FN#47] he went up
and uncovering them, found them all full of old gold ; [FN#48]
whereupon he took a little in his hand and going to his mother,
gave her thereof and said to her, "Thou seest, O my mother." She
marvelled at this thing and said to him, "Beware, O my son, lest
thou squander it, like as thou squanderedst other than this." And
he swore to her, saying, "Be not concerned, O my mother, and let
not thy heart be other than easy on my account, for I would fain
have thee also content with me." [FN#49]

Then she arose and went with him, and they descended into the