# Swahili Tales/Sell Dear, Don't Sell Cheap

Swahili text: Uza ghali, si uza rakhisi
Layout 2
SELL DEAR, DON'T SELL CHEAP.
There was a great merchant, and very wealthy, and he was the sultan's vizir. And he lived amongst his business, and had one son. And the name of that son was Ali. And when his child had reached his five and twentieth year, the father died. And he was left with his mother.
And Ali inherited his property, and spent his property very fast. At last Ali had spent all and was exceedingly poor, there was no one in that town would know him, neither friends of his own, nor those of his father. And he was still a young man, and he walked about in the town.
Every one who saw Ali used to ask him, "What have you done with your property, Ali, that you have lost it all so quickly? For your father left much wealth, and if you had been wise, you would have had it still." And Ali said, "He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told."
And this speech of his was his employment. Every one that asked him, he used to say, "He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told." Till throughout the town people knew that Ali, if one asked him, "What have you done with your property?" used to say, "He that does not know the meaning of it, will not be told."
And the words reached the sultan. And people told ​the sultan, "That son of yonr vizir, Ali, has gone to ruin, and if people ask him, 'What have you done with your property, Ali, that it is so soon ended? For your late father left you much property. If you had been wise, Ali, his property would have remained yours, for that property was large.' Ali answers, and tells whoever asks him, 'He that does not know the meaning of it, will not be told.'"
And the sultan said, "Call me Ali, that I may ask him whether these words are true which people say, or whether they slander him." And the cadi said, "Yes, sultan, the words are true." And he sent a soldier to go and call him to come at the time of the public audience, and that all the people at the sultan's public audience might come and hear whether the words which Ali said were true or false.
So Ali went and borrowed from a poor man a ragged old kanzu, for there was no one who would trust him with his clothes, and this kanzu Ali only got by entreaties and prostrations.
And so he went to the sultan's door, and the audience was very full and the sultan was seated. And the sultan arose and called him, "Ali!" And he answered, "Here." And he said, "Ali, I have heard say that your property has come to ruin, and that in reply to people who ask you, you say, 'He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told.'"
And he said, "Yes, master, I made this property into four parts, one part I threw into the sea, one part I put into the fire, one part I lent and shall not be paid, with one part I paid a debt and have not yet paid it all."
And the sultan said, "Ali, sell dear, don't sell cheap." And Ali said, "All right, sir." And he went out and went his way.
​And the sultan's vizir there arose in the audience and said, "O our lord, I know the meaning of these words." And the sultan answered and said to him, "If you know the meaning of these words, except by asking Ali, to know them by your own understanding, I, the sultan, will give you my sultanship, and what speaks, and what speaks not of my possessions, I, the sultan, have given you as yours. And if you know not the meaning of these words by your own understanding, I shall take all your property, but you shall not ask Ali."
And the vizir said, "If I know not these words by my own understanding, I, the vizir, have given you, the sultan, of my possessions, what speaks and what speaks not, except my wife, the child of a family to return to them, and my head shall be lawful to you, sultan."
And the sultan said, "And I will descend from my sultanship to be your vizir, I who am sultan."
And the vizir arose and went to his house, and bent down and considered, and he went and took books, of which there were a great number in his house. And he opened them to see the meaning of Ali's words, without finding one that had Ali's words in it. So he sat thinking and pondering—"I have told the Sultan that I should know these words by my own understanding, and now I have considered and pondered and have not known them."
And he called, "Juma! where does that young man Ali live?" And he said, "Which Ali, master?"
And he said, "That young man who had much property, the son of the late Vizir Hassan, who has ruined himself. Do you not know where he lives? I beg of you to take me, I have a business I want to ask him about. And these words of mine to you, let no one know them. And I have set you free, for the sake of no one's knowing them."
​And he said, "All right, all right; I know where he lives. There, away at the end of the town, there is a little lean-to near the shore; there he lives with the one eyed beggar who goes about begging, he is his friend; that is where he lives, he has no other place."
And the Vizir arose in the night, at twelve o'clock, when every one was asleep, he and one of his slaves, a confidential slave of his, and they went on till they arrived. And the Vizir tapped at the lean-to and called, "Ali! Ali!" And he was afraid and did not answer. And he said, "Ali!"
And he said to his friend, "Wake, wake!" And he asked him, "What is the matter?" And he said, "There is a man knocking at our shed, and I wonder at night now whether it is a drunken man, or a man coming to steal inside here. But we are beggars, we have nothing. Perhaps the man wants to insult us, and to take our lives." And he said, "However, I say, let us wait quiet a bit and listen; and if he taps at our door a third time let us answer; perhaps we may know his voice."
And he said, "How come you to be so silly, Ali? Some one is come in the middle of the night and we don't know where he comes from, and we are not used to have people come tapping at our door. What does this man want, except perhaps he has three things he wants with us, as God has granted me, I think of these three things in my soul, it is as Almighty God pleases."
And Ali said, "What then, my friend, what is the meaning of these three things which you think of in your soul? Tell me, that I may know, that we may both know. Tell me the first."
And he said, "The first, he wants to come stealing; the second, he wants to come and kill us; the third, perhaps he thinks his wife, or his female slave is here. These ​are what I think in my soul." And he said, "I know not, my friend, whatsoever comes from God is good."
And Ali said, "If he taps now I will answer him; if he kills me let him kill me; if he leaves me alone, well; but I can't help answering him."
And the Vizir tapped, and called him, "Ali!" And he answered, "Here, who are you that come calling me in the night, and in the middle of the night too?" And he said, "It is I, I have business with you?" And he said, "I don't know you who are come, master." And he said, "Don't be afraid, I have come to call you for good, and not for harm." And he said, "Master, call me to your house, and wait for me there till the morning." The Vizir said, "Here where I am, I cannot wait for you even one minute, as you are talking there inside I feel you are delaying. I beg of you, Ali, come outside, and hear the matter I want you for."
And he said, "All right, master, I am putting my ear to the door. Tell me your name, then I shall trust myself to come out, for then I shall know you."
And the Vizir went and said, "It is I, the Sultan's Vizir, I beg of you come out, I have a matter to tell you, and it is a matter of privacy." "All right, my master." And Ali went and told his friend the beggar, "I have come to be called by the Sultan's Vizir; he who refuses to be called, refuses what he is called for."
And he said, "Go, my friend, perhaps there is good luck for you." And as he opened the door Ali saw the Vizir and his slave. And he said, "Master, Masalkhieri." And he said, "Thanks, Ali, let us be going and make our way to my house." And he said, "All right, master."
The Vizir and Ali went together to his house. As the Vizir went up-stairs, it struck one o'clock. And the Vizir called his slave woman, "Mrashi!" And she answered, ​"Here." "Tell the mistress to get food ready quickly, before two o'clock strikes, and then come back."
When Mrashi was come she said, "I am come, master." And he said, "Mrashi, unlock the chest and bring a turban cloth, and bring a white embroidered cap, and bring a kanzu of khuzurungi, and bring a loin-cloth with a border; and all these I have fastened together in a parcel with a red handkerchief; bring them quickly."
And the Vizir arose and said to Ali, "I have called you for good, I beg of you that no man may know of this business; keep it to yourself." And Ali said, "All right, master; could I betray your matters, master?"
And he said, "I want you, Ali, to give me the meaning of the words you told the Sultan, and the words the Sultan said to you."
And he said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"
"Ali, Ali, I beg of you tell me those words; why will you say to me, 'The Sultan told me, Sell dear, and not cheap.' I will give you my plantation."
And he said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap?'"
And he said, "Ali, take all my shops and storerooms that are in the town."
And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"
The Vizir said, "Ali, take all my plantations."
And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"
The Vizir said, "Take all my possessions."
And Ali said, "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"
And the Vizir said, "Take what speaks, and what speaks not, of the possessions of me, the Vizir, and tell me those words."
​And Ali said, "The Saltan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.'"
And the Vizir arose and said, I will give you all my house that I live in, and all the goods that are in it, except my wife, the daughter of a family, to go to her home."
And he said, "Well then, write me a note under your hand."
And the Vizir called Mrashi. And she answered, "Here, master." And he said, "Bring the pen and ink and paper, from the niche in the wall." And Mrashi went and brought them. The Vizir took hold of the paper and ink, and wrote for Ali; "I have given him all my possessions, which speak and which speak not, even to my house which I myself dwell in, save only my wife, the daughter of a family, to go to her home." And the Vizir took the note and gave it to Ali.
"It is now four o'clock, let us go and perform our devotions first, that when we come back from prayers I may give you the meanings you want."
And they went down-stairs and went to their devotions, and returned from the mosque. And he said, "Now then, Ali, tell me, for it is getting light."
And Ali said, "The meaning of saying, 'He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told,' is because if I tell a man who has no understanding, even then he will not know it. That is the meaning of telling every one that asked me, 'He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told.' And when the Sultan called me, he was not told so, because the Sultan has understanding. And he, what he replied to me was, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap.' These are your words."
"Well, explain to me the loss of the property."
And Ali said, "I made this property into four parts, ​one part I put in the sea, one part I set on fire, one part I lent and shall not be paid, with one part I paid a debt which I have not yet done paying."
"Tell me, then, Ali, the meaning of sinking one part in the sea; what is the meaning of that?"
And Ali said to the Vizir, "Forgive me for all that I shall say, and bear with it." And he said, "In the sea is the property that I spent in dissipation with women; that property is lost, and I shall not get it again; so then it is as if I had put it in the sea, for what sinks in the sea, is not to be had again."
"And the meaning of setting one part on fire?"
Ali said, "I ate much, I dressed much, I spent much; that is the meaning of setting on fire, for it will not return into my hands."
"Tell me as to the third part. "What is the meaning of lending, and you will not be repaid?"
And he said to the Vizir, "It is as if a man should give his wife a dowry, it returns not again; so this is the meaning of telling you I lent and shall not be repaid."
And he said, "As to the fourth part, tell me the meaning of saying you have paid a debt but have not finished paying it."
And he said to the Vizir, "It is like a man who has given his mother property, wishing to please her soul; but I, her son, do not know whether I rejoice my mother's soul by what I have done; so I, the young man, say in my soul, my mother is not yet pleased with the property I have given her. That is the meaning of saying I have paid, but have not yet finished paying."
And he said, "Thank you, Ali; and I have understood what you said."
And the sun had begun to shine, and six o'clock had already struck. And the Vizir sat with a joyful spirit. ​"I am going to-day to get the Sultanship, for I have known them by my own understanding." And the Vizir waited till nine o'clock, when the Sultan held his audience. And as the Vizir went out of his house, he owned nothing but the one kanzu that was on his body. And he went out with a joyful spirit.
And he went till he arrived before the door of the Sultan. And the people who were there, and all the soldiers who were there, were greatly astonished. "Eh! The great Vizir, who has all the Sultan's affairs in his hands, is coming in a kanzu only, and has not even sandals on his feet." And the people were astonished at him; there was not one that knew what he had in his soul. And the simple people said, "Perhaps he has lost his wife." And thus he came to the Sultan.
And the Vizir arose and said, "Subalkheir Seyedina." And the Sultan said, "Allah bilkheir al wazir, come near." And he sat down.
And the Sultan said, "Tell me your news which you have." And he said, "Good news; I have come to give you the meaning of those words, Sultan, about which you and I made mutual promises. And I have known them by my own understanding, Sultan."
And the Sultan said, "Explain to me the first."
And he said, "When people asked Ali, why his property had gone to ruin; he tells them, 'He who does not know the meaning of it, will not be told;' because he would not tell those matters to ignorant people. They would not know how to reply to him. Was it not better, then, not to tell those who knew not its meaning? For he who tells a man a matter, likes to get an answer. Would you tell anything to a man who would not know how to reply? This, then, was his meaning in not telling them." And the Sultan said, "Yes, certainly, these words ​are true." And he said, "Give me the meaning, Vizir, of those four parts."
And he said, "In the first place, Sultan, one part was sunk in the sea, and one part set on fire, and one was lent and he will not be repaid, and one he paid and has not finished his payment."
And he said, "Yes, Vizir, certainly your words are true." And he said, "Give me the meaning of the one part being sunk in the sea."
And he said, "It is the property with which Ali went into dissipation outside, and that property was lost; that was the meaning of saying that one part had gone into the sea."
And he said, "Yes, Vizir, certainly that word is true." And the Sultan said, "That money, after it has been sent to women, money is not to be had again; his words are true, it is as if it had gone into the sea. Give me also the meaning of the second part, which was set on fire; give me its meaning."
And the Vizir said, "Ali ate much, and dressed much, and spent much; that is the meaning of setting that property on fire; it returns not again into his hands."
And the Sultan said, "Yes, certainly these words are true, for the property, when you have finished buying food, and you have bought fine clothes, and put them on, the property is lost, and never returns. Ali has spoken his words truly, it is as if it had been set on fire." And he said, "Tell me, Vizir, about the meaning of the third part."
And the Vizir said, "The third part he had lent and will not be repaid." And he said, "What is the meaning of lending this property, and he will not be repaid?" And the Vizir said, "It is the property that he gave to send a dowry to his wife. When you leave her, she does ​not return your property; this is the meaning of his saying, I have lent and shall not be paid."
And he said, "Yes, Vizir, certainly these words are true. And the Sultan said, "He that gives a wife a dowry does not get it again; when the husband has gone to ruin, the wife has no good spirit to give to him. Because you have become poor, she looks upon you as a simpleton, she does not know you as having been her husband. Because you have become destitute, you have become bad, too; and more, she looks upon you as a man without understanding, because you have lost your property. For when you had property you were a handsome man, you were a clever youth, you seemed like the son of a Sultan."
And the Vizir arose and said, "True, Sultan, if a man loses his property he is nobody in other people's eyes." And the Sultan said, "Vizir, tell me the meaning of the fourth part, to pay and not to have finished paying."
And he said to the Sultan, "Its meaning is that Ali gave the property as to one part to his mother. Now Ali knows not whether his mother's soul is satisfied with the property given her by her son. So Ali says, perhaps my mother is not yet pleased with what I have done for her. That is the meaning of Ali's talking of paying and not having finished paying."
The Sultan said, "Yes, Vizir." And he arose from the chair he sat in, and the audience was very full with people, and he called an officer, and said to him, "Go to the fort and order the commander to beat the drums. My Vizir has now become Sultan, and I have become his Vizir; and all you soldiers, and all you who are in the town, Arabs, and Swahili, and Comoro men, obey the Sultan."
And he arose, and the Vizir took the Sultanship. So they remained for the space of two days.
​As a man was passing the house which had been the Vizir's, he saw Ali at the window peeping out, and ordering the groom to saddle a horse, he wanted to ride out. The Arab called to him, "Ali!" And he answered, "Yes." "Why are you in this house?" And Ali said, "Did not the Sultan tell me to sell dear, and not cheap, mind you? And I have sold dear."
"Eh!" The Arab was astonished. "How comes this Ali to be in the house of the great Vizir; however, no matter." And he waited.
Another Arab passed, and saw him down in the reception-room, and called to him, "Ali!" And he answered, "Yes." And he said, "Why do I find you here, Ali?" And he said, "Is not this my house?" "How comes this to be your house?" "The Sultan told me, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap;' and I have sold dear, mind you."
The Arab arose and went to the Sultan's door. And he said to him, "My master, my lord, I have met with your slave Ali, in the house of your Vizir, and I asked him, 'Ali!' And he answered, 'Yes.' 'What are you doing in this house?' And Ali answered me, 'The Sultan told me. Sell dear, don't sell cheap; and I have sold dear.'"
The Sultan was astonished. "This is how the Vizir has served me, and we promised one another to exclude asking Ali. Has he then gone and asked Ali, and is his property gone? So then now he has lost it twice over, he has lost his property and lost the Sultanship. And you go quickly and call Ali to come." "All right, master."
And he went out running, and found Ali wanting to get into a boat to go on the water. And he called him, "Ali!" And he said, "Yes." And he said, "Quick, ​you are called for at the Sultan's." And Ali said, "All right, I am like a Sultan, Sultan of myself."
And Ali arose, and went up-stairs and called, "Mrashi, look out for me from among the good clothes that are in the chests, for you are the one that knows them best." And Mrashi went and opened the chest, and she took out a fine joho, and she took out a fine turban, and she took out a shawl for the waist, and she took out a dagger with gold filigree work, and she took out a curved sword of Arab albunsayidi, and she took out a phial of otto of roses of Stamboul, and took them to her master.
When Ali saw those clothes, he rejoiced, and took and put them on, and went down with the Arab, and they went till they came to the Sultan's door. And they told him, "Pass on into the reception-room." And he passed on and sat down.
When the Sultan came down to hold the audience, there came down also he that was before the Sultan, that was now the Vizir. And he spoke to the Vizir, and he answered, "Yes." And he asked him, "Was not our agreement in force? I told you that my agreement was that you should know by your own understanding, without going to ask Ali." And he said, "Yes." "And you turned round, and went to ask Ali." And he said to the Sultan, "I did not ask Ali." And the Sultan said, "Ah! Is not this Ali here?" And he said, "Let us call him, that he may come before you, that we may believe that you knew these words by your own understanding, without Ali's telling you." And he said, "Yes, call Ali, let him come."
And the Sultan arose and called Ali. And he answered, "Here, sir." And he said, "Come." And he said, "How is it that you, Ali, should go to live in the Vizir's house? What is your reason?" And he said, ​"Yes, Sultan, you told me yourself, 'Sell dear, don't sell cheap,' and this is the note which the Vizir wrote for me; read it yourself, Sultan, that you may know that these things are true."
The Sultan took the note and read it, and he said, "True, Ali, you did sell dear, and not cheap."
And the Sultan arose and called the Vizir. And he said, "Here, sir." And he said to the people, "You who are at the audience, great and small, Banyan, and Arab, and Sheheri, and Comoro man, and Swahili, and all the people in the land. Now then, I have taken him away, he has neither the Vizirship nor the Sultanship, his condition is like that of the townspeople. And now this Ali has become my chief Vizir; every one, whatever he desires, be it man, or woman, Arab, or European, let all go to Ali; there it is that their business will be concluded."
And this story was made by Ninga.