ONCE upon a time, there lived a rich and gentle merchant in Baghdad. He had many friends who were always around him and kept praising him. The merchant threw many parties and was very kind to them whenever they needed help. The kind merchant was living a happy and wealthy life as his trade was progressing well.

One particular day, he was even more excited as four of his ships loaded with unique items from different countries were about to arrive on the port; he had invested all his money on these goods.

He happily went to the port to receive his ships but none of them arrived. After waiting for the whole day, another ship arrived and its captain told the merchant that his ships could not withstand a very bad storm in the sea and sank; none of his goods could be saved.

The news came as a shock and he was completely dejected. He cried and cried, but nothing could be done now. He had to compensate the families of the crew of the ships for the loss of their beloveds who also drowned in the sea along with his goods. So he paid them with whatever he had, leaving nothing with him. He even sold his big beautiful house and his cars to pay off his debts.

Now, with nothing left in his hands, he thought hard about how to earn a living, then he had an idea. He thought why not borrow some money from his friends and start all over again? But the thought made him embarrassed as he was the one who always gave parties and lent money to whoever was in need. How would he gather the courage to ask his rich friends for help?

After much thought, he went to one of his friends to borrow some money. By this time, everybody knew that the merchant was broke and so his friend refused to help him. The merchant then went to another friend and then another, one by one all his rich friends refused to lend him money. Some did not even talk to him.

The kind merchant now realised that they were his friends as long as he was rich — they were fair weather friends.

It opened the merchant’s eyes and he vowed never ever to trust such friends again.

He only had his piggy bank left now so praying hard he opened it and from that money he started selling honey from door to door. He always saved half of his daily income. The merchant kept selling different things and kept saving money. When he had enough money, he started his old business. Slowly and gradually, this lonely kind merchant grew rich.

And in some years, he was again the richest merchant in the whole town. His old selfish friends came to know about it and quickly rushed to become friends with him again so that they could avail the benefits of the kind merchant’s money as they used to do earlier.

They went to the merchant and apologised to him. The merchant was now well aware of their selfish nature so he didn’t accept their apology and reminded them about how cruelly they had rejected him, while he was the one who always helped them and remained fair throughout their friendship. If they had helped him then, he wouldn’t have to suffer and struggle for so long, but he was happy to have discovered their true nature that way and said, “A friend in need is a friend indeed; and the worst truth is that you all are not worthy to be called friends!” And with this he closed the door.

His selfish friends felt guilty but it was too late for them now.