“But in thee, O young man!  I have beheld a rare wisdom.  To choose that which is good in thine eyes, and suitable to thy needs, rather than that which satisfieth the lust of over-reaching; and lo! what I have so long kept from thousands, has become thine!”

Then the young man wished to restore to the Jew the jar he valued so highly, and to choose another.

But the Jew refused, saying, “A gift cannot be recalled.  Moreover, I will now explain to thee its uses.  Within the jar lies a toad, whose spit is poison.  But it will never spit at its master.  Every evening thou must feed it with bread and milk, when it will fall asleep; and at sunrise in the morning it will awake and breathe heavily against the side of the jar, which will thus become warm.  As it warms the flowers will blossom out, and become real, and full of perfume, and thou wilt be able to pluck them without diminishing their number.  Moreover, these twelve round spots of gold will drop off, and become twelve gold pieces, which will be thine.  And thus it will be every day.  Only thou must thyself rise with the sun, and gather the flowers and the gold with thine own hands.  Furthermore, when the jar cools, the flowers and gilding will be as before.  Fare thee well.”

And even as he spoke the Jew lifted the huge crate of china on to his back, and disappeared among the crowd.

All came about as the Jew had promised.  As he had twelve gold pieces a day, the young man now wanted for nothing, besides which he had fresh flowers on his table all the year round.

Now it is well said, “Thy business is my business, and the business of all beside;” for every man’s affairs are his neighbours’ property.  Thus it came about that all those who lived near the young man were perplexed that he had such beautiful flowers in all seasons; and esteemed it as an injury to themselves that he should have them and give no explanation as to whence they came.

At last it came to the ears of the king, and he also was disturbed.  For he was curious, and fond of prying into small matters; a taste which ill becomes those of high position.  But the king had no child to succeed him; and he was always suspecting those about him of plotting to obtain the crown, and thus he came to be for ever prying into the affairs of his subjects.

Now when he heard of the young man who had flowers on his table all the year round, he desired one of his officers to go and question him as to how he obtained them.  But the young man contrived to evade his questions, and the matter was at rest for a while.

Then the king sent another messenger, with orders to press the young man more closely; and because the young man disdained to tell a lie, he said, “I get the flowers from yon china jar.”

Then the messenger returned, and said to the king, “The young man says that he gets the flowers from a certain china jar which stands in his room.”