Siman 99

(19.) There was once a small king, and a great king conquered him and he became subservient to him. And the great king conquered yet more kings and countries. After some time the small king strengthened himself and roused himself with other kings against the great king who had conquered them, and they returned and conquered their land from his hand, and also conquered provinces from him. And the aforementioned small king settled the matter in his mind: seeing that the wheel turns — sometimes this one conquers, and sometimes his colleague turns around and conquers from him — and who knows what the day may bring? Perhaps the matter will reverse itself again. So he went and built a wall beside the sea, and stored within that fortress all the wealth and money he had gathered from all his province. And he made rooms upon rooms, and in each and every room he stored a particular currency. And he hung a placard [tablicheh — a sign] on the entrance, and written on it was the name of the currency stored within that room. And the entrance to the overall fortress was made with craftsmanship — called a mashin [machine] — such that it was impossible to enter there. For whoever did not know the path and the route and the direction to turn in every direction upon entry — the machine would cut off his head. And there was hung there a placard written in several languages, [explaining] the path and the wisdom of how to enter there and how to turn in every direction, so that one could enter and the aforementioned machine would not harm him. After some time the sea flooded the island with the aforementioned fortress, and the matter was forgotten. After several hundreds of years, another king came and conquered that region, and the aforementioned island was revealed. And this king was small [in stature] and wanted to establish a settlement there. And he went and settled there from the Jews and from the other nations. And as is natural, paupers and impoverished people settled there, as is the way with new places. And there was there a poor man who built himself a small house beside the sea. And it happened on a Friday that he went to dig clay and found the aforementioned placard. And he examined it and saw that it was written on it in many languages. And since he was a learned man, he understood one of the languages, and he understood from the placard how to enter the fortress. And he concealed this for himself, and after the Sabbath he went and entered there. And he found there all the rooms and all the currencies stored there. And he took from there and became very wealthy. And he gave much charity and became a very great and prominent man.