Sharru Nada rides through the desert from Damascus with his caravan and many guards. He is an elderly “merchant prince” from Babylon with expensive taste (83). Traveling with Sharru is the young Hadan Gula, the grandson of a friend. Sharru invites Hadan along on the trip to help him break away from his father, who mishandled the family’s finances and inheritance. Hadan asks Sharru why he always works so hard since Hadan says if he were wealthy, he would never work and enjoy spending his money on clothing and jewelry. Hadan admits that he and his father do not have his grandfather’s talent for handling money and that they are in difficult circumstances.

Passing by a field, Sharru sees three men working with their oxen and is convinced that he saw the same men working the same field decades ago. This prompts him to think about the late Arad Gula, Hadan’s grandfather. He feels he owes it Arad to try to help Hadan learn some financial skills. Sharru asks him if he would like to learn how his grandfather became so wealthy. He tells Hadan that he was enslaved after being sold into slavery by his widowed stepmother.