Ignoring the fact that his cousin, Nasir ed-din, son of Shirkuh, had intrigued to seize Damascus in the event of his death, over his own sons, Saladin gave Emesa to his cousin's heir, a boy of eleven. A year later they came together and Saladin in all kindness asked the child how he was getting on with his studies of the Koran. Whether he had been prompted by enemies of the Sultan, or it was his own inspiration, the youngster replied: " I have reached the passage where it says, 6 They who seize unjustly the goods of orphans achieve only this that they introduce into their entrails the fire of hell, and they will become the prey of its flames.' " This referred to the seizure of his father's possessions, which Saladin had taken, not ff^iimself, but for the State. The impertinence was passed over without comment. So it goes on interminably, becoming almost monotonous, this record of kindliness and munificence. In the end generosity had become almost a vice. This conqueror of vast wealth died so poor there was not money enough left to pay for his funeral. He had given away whole provinces, yet, wrote his secretary, " he left neither goods, nor houses nor real estate ; neither garden, nor village nor cultivated land nor any species of property." In his treasury there remained only one Tyrian gold piece and forty-seven pieces of silver. Mahomet said : " When the generous man stumbles God takes him by the hand." Saladin was forever seeking to ingratiate himself with the Lord.