|
The neighbor then thought of a nasty trick.
He found an old sack and filled it with stones, pebbles,
and potsherds. At
night, when the woman grew tired and closed her day of constant
prayer, he climbed up on his wall.
As she lay down to sleep, he hoisted the sack and
threw it down on his defenseless neighbor. It hit her on the head and fell into a corner.
The woman was knocked unconscious.
The
next morning
when she recovered, she saw the big sack and was convinced
that Allah had heard her prayers.
She knelt down and cried:
“Thank you, God!”
 |
Then
she opened
the sack. Gold and
silver poured from the sack, gleaming in the strengthening
daylight: golden guineas, ducats, and silver rupiahs.
It was true. God
had heard her prayers. (It sometimes pleases Him to use even His enemies
as tools for His purpose:
He only has to will a thing and it happens.)
Overnight the woman had become rich and famous.
People from the village, who had never before taken
any notice, now came to see her.
Even the wedana (village head) honored her with a visit. He
suggested that he could have a house built for her in the
city.
To
this she agreed, and so she moved into a beautifully furnished
mansion, situated in one of the upper-class streets of the
big city. There people did not know of her past; they
only knew her as the rich old lady.
Many beggars came to her door to ask for a few coins. She gave to everyone, for she could never forget
what it was like to be poor and starving. She was loved and respected by all.
The
neighbor’s scheme
Her
former neighbor now thought of another scheme.
He made a dignified call on the old lady in her new
home. “You do appreciate, do you not,” he asked,
“that the money you now have was originally a bag of stones
I had collected? Now by accident you have become rich, and
I want you to do me a favor in return.
I will gather together another bag of pebbles and
potsherds and pray to God for a few days; then you will
come and throw the bag down from the attic on top of me,
just as I did for you. Agreed?”
The old lady was always prepared to help people, so she
said that she would come. The neighbor went home, put stones
in a bag, and placed it in the attic just above his bed.
|
![](javascript:popUp("../Images/img4.jpg"))
