’He was perfectly entranced as he gazed on the emerald gate, through which he had to pass to enter a garden of luxuriant beauty, where every shrub, plant, flower, and fruit teemed with richness.  In the centre of a walk an old man was seated in a chair of burnished gold, clad in the costume of the country, who seemed to be engaged in breathing the sweet odours by which he was surrounded with a calm and tranquil countenance of joy.  “I know your business,” said the possessor of this paradise, to the Vizier as he advanced towards him; “you are come to obtain fruit from this tree, which bows its branches to the earth with the weight and number of its burden.  Take one only; this is the fruit your master’s dream pictured to his fancy.”

’Full of joy at the prospect of release from the dreaded anger of his royal master, the Vizier hastily plucked the fruit, and retreated by the way he came, without waiting to inquire what the old man meant by an exclamation he uttered at parting, which at the time seemed of lesser import than he afterwards imagined; but “Alas, the world” was recalled to his memory on his way back to the palace, and haunted his mind so strongly that he became restless and uneasy, even after the King had conferred honours and favours innumerable on him for his successful efforts in procuring that fruit which had never before been seen by any creature on earth but by the King, and by him only in a dream.  “Alas, the world!” was like a dark envelope over every attempt to be cheerful; an impenetrable cloud seemed to pervade the Vizier’s mind; he could think of nothing but the parting words of the old man, and his own folly in not inquiring his meaning.

’The Vizier at last went to the same Durweish who had befriended him in his hour of need, and related to him the obstacle to his enjoyment of the blessings and honours which had crowned his success, and hoped from this holy-minded man to ascertain the meaning of that perplexing sentence, “Alas, the world!” The Durweish could not, or would not explain the old man’s meaning; but willing to do the Vizier all possible service, he proposed giving him again the necessary passport to the inhabitant of the garden.

’The fragment of a pitcher was again traced with the mystic characters, and with this in his hand the Vizier at midnight sought the tomb, where he found as easy access as on the former occasion.  Everything he saw seemed doubly beautiful to his imagination since his former visit.  He entered by the emerald gate and found the old man enjoying the magnificent and sense-devouring scene, with as much delight as mortals are wont to show when content fills the heart of man.

’"I know your second errand, my friend,” said the old man, “and am quite as willing to oblige you as on your first visit.  Know then, Vizier, that whilst an inhabitant of earth, I followed the humble occupation of a village barber; by shaving and paring nails I earned my daily bread, and maintained my family.  Sometimes I collected ten pice in my day of labour from house to house, and if twelve crowned my efforts I was fortunate.