Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 218
Malfuzat - English translation of Urdu Volume 10 218 to make sure it was not removed from fire till properly cooked. He further cautioned him not to remove it from the fire till he returned. The man cooked the pot on the fire for a long time as directed till the house started filling with smoke and neighbours got worried. They made him open the door. When he informed them that it was alchemy, they made him understand that he had been robbed by the faqir. When the pot was opened, it only had stones. Later, when this person went to Gurdaspur for some engagement, he learned that the same man had deceived someone else and there, too, was a pot on fire. He told them that he had been duped as well. There too, upon opening the pot, they similarly discovered mere stones. Similarly, there is a village near Qadian where an alchemist came and stayed in the local mosque. He asked the custodian of the mosque as to why they did not repair it as it was in bad shape. He replied that the mosque was built in the time of his forefathers, and that he was poor and did not have sufficient funds for the repairs. The alchemist said that money was not a problem and he could arrange it. Upon inquiry, he replied that he could make silver. The custodian gave him twenty-five rupees. The alchemist took him to Batala and handed him some polished tin. The man was a simpleton and could not tell the difference. Upon returning to his village he showed it to the jeweller only to discover that it was totally worthless. Similarly, there was a governmental deputy who had a long-standing interest in alchemy and had already wasted a lot of money in this pursuit. One day a man came to him and told him that he knew how to convert base metals into gold but needed 500 rupees for equipment etc. The deputy immedi- ately arranged for this. Taking the money, the man opened up a shop nearby and sent word to the deputy that: ‘I am keeping