The Greedy Kazi

“I will work a little more, save up more money and then go back to my family.”

In this way he toiled unsparingly for several years and was able to put aside a whole thousand tanga. And since that, for a poor man, is a large sum of money, he began brooding about it and said to himself:

“What if through some mischance my money is lost?.. To carry it on me is folly, for I may lose it; also, a thief might learn about it and might then kill and rob me. Nor will it do to hide the money at my lodgings, for someone might see me hiding it, and there being many sly and evil people in the world, I will be deprived of it and return home empty-handed.”

So his thoughts ran and he did not know what to do. But at last he decided to give his thousand tanga to the kazi [the judge] for safekeeping.

“Everyone says the kazi is as honest as he is pious,” said he to himself, “so my money will be safe with him. I will take it back from him when I decide to go home.”

And off he went to see the kazi. The kazi greeted him politely and asked what he wanted.

“I should like to leave my money with you for safekeeping, O most honourable kazi,” the man said. “Please keep it for me while I am living and working in this town.”

The kazi took the bag of money and said gravely:

“I shall do as you ask with the greatest pleasure. You could not have found a safer place to keep your money.”

The poor man left, and the kazi counted the money and put it away in a large chest.

Some time passed, and the owner of the money prepared to go back to his family. He came to the kazi and said to him:

“Give me back my money, O most honourable kazi, for tomorrow I leave this town.”

The kazi looked at him.

“What money do you mean?” he asked.

“The thousand tanga that I gave you to keep for me, most honourable kazi.”

“You must be mad!” the kazi shouted. “When did you ever give me any money? One thousand tanga indeed! What an idea! Why, neither you nor any of your kin ever laid eyes on so much as a hundred tanga! Where would you get a whole thousand?”

The poor man tried to remind the kazi when it was he had brought him the money and what had been said between them. But the kazi would not listen to him. He stamped his feet and called for his servants.

“This man is a swindler!” he shouted. ‘Thrash him soundly and turn him out of my house!”

The kazi’s servants fell on the poor man, beat him up and threw him out of the house.

The poor man stumbled off down the street with tears and lamentations.

“All my hard work has been in vain! My money is lost he kept repeating sorrowfully. “The kazi has taken it all!”

Now, a woman who happened to be passing by just then overheard the poor man’s lamentations and said to him reproachfully:

“What has happened, my brother? Why are you, a grownup man, crying like a child?”

Said the poor man sadly:

“O my sister, if only you knew how I have been tricked you would not reproach me! By working beyond my strength for years and never eating my fill I succeeded in putting aside a thousand tanga. Now I have. lost them.”

“Tell me how it happened,” the woman said.

The poor man told her the whole story.

“And people say that the kazi is as honest as he is pious!” he added bitterly.

The woman listened to his story with sympathy.

“Do not be sad, not all is lost,” said she. “Come with me, I will think of something.”

They went to her house, and the woman took a large box that stood there and said to her little son:

“I am going with this man to see the kazi. Follow us at a distance and try not to be seen by anyone. When we reach the kazi’s house, hide yourself and wait till the kazi has handed this man his money. When you see him stretch out his hands to take this box, run into the house and say: “Father has come back with his camels and goods.”

“Very well, I will do as you say,” said the boy.

The woman placed the box on her head, and she and the poor man made their way to the kazi’s house, the woman’s son following them at a distance.

They came there, and the woman said to the poor man:

“I will go in first, and you come in after me.”

She stepped into the house, and the kazi looked at her and at the large box on her head and said:

“What business brings you here, my sister?”

Said the woman:

“Perhaps you have heard of me, O most honourable kazi. I am the wife of Rahim, the rich merchant. My husband has taken his caravan to distant lands, and no one knows when he will return. For many nights now I have been unable to sleep peacefully. Thieves are prowling round our house, and I am sure they plan to rob us. This box contains all the money we have, as well as all our gold and precious stones. t was with difficulty that I carried it here, it is so heavy. I should like to leave it with you for safekeeping. When my husband returns he will come for it himself.”

The kazi lifted the box and his hands shook.

“There must be at least forty or fifty thousand tanga in money in this box, and many precious stones besides, it is so heavy,” thought he. “I have heard this Rahim is a very rich merchant.” And turning to the woman, he said:

“Very well, my sister, I shall keep your treasures for you. They will be safe with me, you may be sure. And you will get everything back, to the last tanga.”

But the woman took the box from the kazi’s hands.

“Will I truly get all of it back?” said she.

“Do not doubt it, my sister!” the kazi exclaimed. “All the people in the town know me for an honest man.”

Just as he said this, the poor man, for so it had been agreed between him and the woman, came into the kazi’s house. The kazi saw him and was overjoyed.

“Heaven itself has brought this man here,” said he to himself. “There could be no better opportunity of proving my honesty to this woman. I shall give back to that beggar his thousand tanga and get a box full of money and jewels instead. It will be worth it, ha-ha!”

And the kazi turned to the woman, saying:

“I repeat to you, my sister, that there is no better place for you to leave your money than my house. Your box will be far safer here than if you keep it in your own house. And you can have it back any time you want.”

The kazi’s servants and all who were present in the house nodded their heads as if to say that the kazi was indeed speaking the truth and that his every word could be trusted.

And the kazi, pretending to have only just noticed the poor man’s presence, exclaimed:

“Why, here is the man who gave me all his savings, one thousand tanga, to keep! He came to me this morning and asked for his money, but I did not recognise him, I mistook him for a thief and refused to give it back. If someone here knows him and will vouch for him I will give it him at once.”

Said the woman:

“O most honourable kazi, I have known this poor man for almost two years. He came to this town from afar and he has been working very hard ever since. He worked for me, too, for a time. Believe me when I tell you that he has more than earned his money, for never was there a more hard-working man.”

“What, you know this man!” the kazi exclaimed. “Then we need not delay. Come up here, my brother, and take your thousand tanga.”

And the kazi reached into his chest, counted out a thousand tanga and gave them to their owner.

“Well, my sister, now you have seen for yourself how safe other people’s money is with me and that I can be trusted to return it to its owner,” said the kazi hurriedly. “Leave your box here and go home in peace.”

And he stretched out his hands for the box.

But before the woman could hand it to him, her son burst into the house.

“Mother! Mother!” he called. “Come home quickly! Father has come back with his camels and goods and is waiting for you.”

“Oh well, now that my husband has returned, I need no longer fear thieves,” said the woman with a smile. “He will be able to look after our treasures without the help of the honourable kazi.”

And with these words the woman took her box, placed it on her head and left the kazi’s house in the company of the poor man.

“One must never despair, my brother,” said she. “Remember that there is no knave alive whose scurvy tricks work every time. Go back to your family and live in peace. You have wandered in alien parts long enough. Spend your hard- earned money and enjoy it.”

And taking leave of one another, they parted.

As for the kazi, now that he was left alone, he flew into a terrible. rage. He tugged at his beard, stamped his feet and was so distressed that he did not know what to do with himself.

“Unhappy man that I am! ” he said over and over again. “What a terrible misfortune! May the merchant Rahim be cursed! Why couldn’t he have arrived an hour later! It would all have been over and done with by then, the box of treasures would have been mine. My riches would have multiplied. My large chest would have been filled to the top. I shall never get over it, never!”

And he wept and cried and could not stop.

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