“I will not reveal it.”  So the King spat into his mouth and sent him away, saying to the woman, “Go and take him back where you found him.”  She departed, and took him back there.

He mounted his ass and came back to his house.  He arranged the load and took back to the people the linen he had washed.  Then he remounted the beast to go and seek some earth.  He was going to dig when he heard a crow say in the air: 

“Dig beneath; you will sing when God has made you rich.”

He understood what the crow said, dug beneath, and found a treasure.  He filled a basket with it.  On the top he put a little earth and went home, but often returned to the spot.  On one of these occasions his ass met a mule, which said: 

“Are you working still?”

The ass replied:  “My master has found a treasure and he is taking it away.”

The mule answered:  “When you are in a crowd balk and throw the basket to the ground.  People will see it, all will be discovered, and your master will leave you in peace.”

The man had heard every word of this.  He filled his basket with earth only.  When they arrived at a crowd of people the ass kicked and threw the load to the ground.  Her master beat her till she had enough.  He applied himself to gathering the treasure, and became a rich merchant.

He had at home some chickens and a dog.  One day he went into the granary, and a hen followed him and ate the grain.  A cock said to her: 

“Bring me a little.”

She answered, “Eat for yourself.”

The master began to laugh.  His wife asked him: 

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.”

“You are laughing at me.”

“Not at all.”

“You must tell me what you are laughing at.”

“If I tell you I shall die.”

“You shall tell me, and you shall die.”

“To-night.”  He brought out some grain and said to his wife, “Give alms.”  He invited the people, bade them to eat, and when they had gone he brought food to the dog, but he would not eat.  The neighbor’s dog came, as it did every day, to eat with his dog.  To-day it found the food intact.

“Come and eat,” it said.

“No,” the dog answered.

“Why not?”

Then the dog told the other:  “My master, hearing the chickens talk, began to laugh.  His wife asked him:  ‘Why are you laughing?’ ’If I tell you, I shall die.’  ‘Tell me and die,’ That is why,” continued the dog, “he has given alms, for when he reveals his secret he will die, and I shall never find anyone to act as he has.”

The other dog replied:  “As he knows our language, let him take a stick and give it to his wife until she has had enough.  As he beats her let him say:  ’This is what I was laughing at.  This is what I was laughing at.  This is what I was laughing at,’ until she says to him, ‘Reveal to me nothing.’”

The man heard the conversation of the dogs, and went and got a stick.  When his wife and he went to bed she said to him, “Tell me that now.”