One day, when he and a great party of roisterers were shouting and making merry, he brought out his earthen-ware pot to show them the wonders of it; and to prove its virtue he gave to each guest whatever he wanted. "What will you have?"--"A handful of gold."--"Put your hand in and get it!"--"What will you have?"--"A fistful of pearls."--"Put your fist in and get them!"--"What will you have?"--"A necklace of diamonds."--"Dip into the jar and get it." And so he went from one to another, and each and every one got what he asked for, and such a shouting and hubbub those walls had never heard before.
Then the young man, holding the jar in his hands, began to dance and to sing: "O wonderful jar! O beautiful jar! O beloved jar!" and so on, his friends clapping their hands, and laughing and cheering him. At last, in the height of his folly, he balanced the earthen jar on his head, and began dancing around and around with it to show his dexterity.
Smash! crash! The precious jar lay in fifty pieces of the stone floor, and the young man stood staring at the result of his folly with bulging eyes, while his friends roared and laughed and shouted louder than ever over his mishap. And again his treasure and his gay life were gone.
But what had been hard for him to do before was easier now. At the end of a week he was back at the old man's house, rapping on the door. This time the old man asked him never a word, but frowned as black as thunder.
"I know," said he, "what has happened to you. If I were wise I should let you alone in your folly; but once more I will have pity on you and will help you, only this time it shall be the last." Once more he led the way to the stone room, where were the iron candlestick and the magic carpet, and with him he took a good stout cudgel. He stood the candlestick in the middle of the room, and taking three candles from his pouch, thrust one into each branch. Then he struck a light, and lit the first candle.
Instantly there appeared a little old man, clad in a long white robe, who began dancing and spinning around and around like a top. He lit the second candle, and a second old man appeared, and round and round he went, spinning like his brother. He lit the third candle, and a third old man appeared. Around and around and around they spun and whirled, until the head spun and whirled to look at them. Then the old graybeard gripped the cudgel in his hand. "Are you ready?" he asked.
"We are ready, and waiting," answered the three. Thereupon, without another word, the graybeard fetched each of the dancers a blow upon the head with might and main--One! two! three! crack! crash! jingle!
Lo and behold! Instead of the three dancing men, there lay three great heaps of gold upon the floor, and the spendthrift stood staring like an owl. "There," said the old man, "take what you want, and then go your way, and trouble me no more."
"Well," said the spendthrift, "of all the wonders that ever I saw, this is the most wonderful! But how am I to carry my gold away with me, seeing I did not fetch my basket?"
"You shall have a basket," said the old man, "if only you will trouble me no more. Just wait here a moment until I bring it to you."
The spendthrift was left all alone in the room; not a soul was there but himself. He looked up, and he looked down, and scratched his head. "Why," he cried aloud, "should I be content to take a part when I can have the whole?"