Once upon a time, there lived in Baghdad a poor man. One night he dreamt that if he went to Cairo, he would become very rich. So he set out for Cairo. He arrived there after dark and being very tired, went to sleep in the doorway of a house.

The people of the house thought he was a thief and called the police who threw him in prison.

A few days later, he was brought before a judge. The judge looked at him, and seeing that he was a stranger to Cairo asked him where he was from and what had brought him to Cairo.

He answered that he was from Baghdad and had come to Cairo because of what he had seen in his dream.

The judge laughed heartily and told him that he should learn to ignore his dreams. Then the judge told him that thrice he had dreamt that there was a vast treasure buried under a twisted tree behind a well in a garden in Baghdad. But he had been wise and had ignored the dream. After saying this, he set the man free and asked him to return to Baghdad.

The man realized that the judge had just described the garden in his own house in Baghdad. So he returned home in haste and found the treasure, and lived out the rest of his life as a rich and contented man whose dream had come true.