Editor's note: This is the last installment of Tell Me a Story in The Advertiser. Amy Friedman's tales can be found at www.uexpress.com.

"Jabir's Buried Treasure" is a Middle Eastern folk tale.

Once there lived a poor young man whose name was Jabir. In spite of his poverty, Jabir dreamed of a rich, fruitful life, so he worked hard and took comfort in his abilities. Years passed, and Jabir saved his money. He never bought frivolous or fancy things, and after a while, he owned a sack full of gold coins.

Jabir hoped to use his savings to travel to faraway lands. Sometimes he told his friends Abdul and Ajmal about his plans, and once in a while he bragged about his savings. They laughed at his plans, though they admired his hard work and his ability to save.

One day a thought struck Jabir. "What if Ajmal is tempted to steal my gold, or Abdul wants to give away my coins?" Soon he was so filled with worry, he decided to bury his treasure.

He decided he would sneak into his neighbor's yard and bury the sack beneath an old wormwood tree. Time passed, and when the new year came, Jabir felt the time had come for him to make his journey. He waited until past midnight, then tiptoed to his neighbor's yard and dug beneath the wormwood tree.

But when Jabir reached the spot where he had buried his treasure, he discovered it was gone. "How can this be?" he said to himself. Who could have taken his treasure? And what would he do? He could not confess his troubles to his friends, for they would know how little he had trusted them, and he would lose his fortune and his friendships.

Jabir's heart was heavy with sorrow, and before long, his friends noticed that he had lost his joy for life.

"What troubles you?" Abdul asked Jabir.

"Ah, I cannot say," Jabir sighed, "for if I told you I would break your heart as well, good friend."

"Jabir," Ajmal said, touching his friend upon the shoulder, "friends are meant to help each other carry burdens."

This kind offer pierced Jabir's heart. He looked into his friends' eyes and knew he must tell them the truth. So he confessed that he had buried his gold beneath his neighbor's wormwood tree, and now it was gone.

"Did anyone see you bury the treasure?" Ajmal asked.

"No, I buried it on the darkest night of the year when my neighbor was not at home and no one else was near."

"Perhaps your neighbor noticed something odd beneath his tree and wondered what was planted there," Abdul said.

"Impossible," Jabir replied. "I made certain that it looked exactly the same afterward as it had before."

"Did you leave behind a sign that you had been there?" Ajmal asked. "A footprint or a handprint? A ring or a scarf?"

"No, nothing," Jabir said.

"It is a mystery," said Ajmal. "We'll have to ask the wise men to help us figure this out."

The three men went to the center of town where the wise men held court, and as they walked and talked of the mystery, they passed a madman who heard their conversation.

The man leaped in front of the three friends. "It is the one who took the root of the tree who stole your treasure!" he cried.

The three young men shook their heads, pitying the poor madman, but just then a boy stepped forward. "Listen to the madman," he said.

"But he's mad," argued Jabir. "He knows nothing."

"Sometimes there is wisdom in madness," the boy answered, and then he pointed at the madman. "The truly wise listen well, so I listened to the madman. He says you will find your treasure if you find the one who took the roots. What kind of tree was it?"

"A wormwood tree," answered Jabir.

"Ah," the boy said, knowingly. "Then your treasure is with the merchant of absinthe, for it is he who digs the root of the wormwood tree." He led the three friends to the merchant.

There they knocked upon the door, and when the merchant answered, the young boy asked, "Do you have a sack full of gold you dug out of the earth?"

"I do indeed," the merchant said. "I have kept it here for safekeeping, for when I asked the man whose tree it was if this was his gold, he said it was not."

"It's mine!" Jabir said. "That's my gold."

"If this is so, tell me how much gold is in the bag," the merchant said.

"Five hundred and sixty-eight gold coins," Jabir answered.

"The bag is yours, then," the merchant said, and he handed Jabir his precious gold. And so it was that Jabir's treasure was returned to him, and with this treasure came added treasures, for now Jabir understood the value of friendship and the nature of wisdom.