Storia do Mogor 24.3

24.3

The Jew, perceiving the force of the argument, sharpened his wits, and asked permission to tell the story of what had happened some time before. There was a father, said the Hebrew, who had three [4] sons, heirs to the whole of his great riches, and among his jewels there was a precious stone of an unusual size, and therefore greatly valued. The three sons knew that their father had this precious stone ; they also knew that it was beyond price, and that it could never be sold for its proper value. Thus each of them hoped to inherit it on his father's death. The latter, knowing his children's thoughts, and desirous of pleasing them all, so that at his death there should be no discord among them nor dispute, sent for a lapidary, and, showing him the stone, gave an order to make two imitation stones of the same size, and the same in every detail as the true one. The lapidary made these two stones so perfectly that when the three were placed together, it was impossible to tell which was the true one.