thou wert Prince of the Faithful, thou wouldst not be in this predicament. And when he heard what his mother said, he replied, By Allah, thou hast spoken truth. It seemeth that I was only asleep, and dreamt that they made me Khalifeh, and assigned me servants and female slaves.-So his mother said to him, O my son, verily Satan doeth more than this. And he replied, Thou hast spoken truth, and I beg forgiveness of God for the actions committed by me.

They therefore took him forth from the madhouse, and conducted him into the bath; and when he recovered his health, he prepared food and drink, and began to eat. But eating by himself was not pleasant to him; and he said to his mother, O my mother, neither life nor eating, by myself, is pleasant to me. She replied, If thou desire to do according to thy will, thy return to the madhouse is most probable. Paying no attention, however, to her advice, he walked to the bridge, to see for himself a cup-companion. And while he was sitting there, lo, Er-Rashid came to him, in the garb of a merchant; for, from the time of his parting with him, he came every day to the bridge, but found him not till now. As soon as Abu-l-Hasan saw him, he said to him, A friendly welcome to thee, O King of the Jann! So ErRashid said, What have I done to thee?—What more couldst thou do, said Abu-l-Hasan, than thou hast done unto me, O filthiest of the Jann? I have suffered beating, and entered the madhouse, and they pronounced me a madman. All this was occasioned by thee. I brought thee to my abode, and fed thee with the best of my food; and after that, thou gavest thy Devils and thy 'Ons entire power over me, to make sport with my reason from morning to evening. Depart from me, therefore, and go thy way.

The Khalifeh smiled at this, and, seating himself by his side, addressed him in courteous language, and said to him, O my brother, when I went forth from thee, I inadvertently left the door open, and probably the Devil went in to thee. Abu-l-Hasan replied, Inquire not respecting that which happened to me. And what possessed thee, he added, that thou leftest the door open, so that the Devil came in to me, and that such and such things befell me?—And he related to the Khalifeh all that had happened to him

from first to last, while Er-Rashid laughed, but concealed his laughter after which, the Khalifeh said to him, Praise be to God that He hath dispelled from thee that which thou hatest, and that I have seen thee again in prosperity! But Abu-l-Hasan replied, I will not again take thee as my booncompanion, nor as an associate to sit with me; for the proverb saith, He who stumbleth against a stone and returneth to it is to be blamed and reproached :—and with thee, O my brother, I will not carouse, nor will I keep company with thee; since I have not found thy visit to be followed by good fortune to me.50-The Khalifeh, however, said, I have been the means of the accomplishment of thy desire with regard to the Imam and the skeykhs.—Yes, replied Abu-l-Hasan. And Er-Rashid added, Perhaps something will happen to thee that will rejoice thy heart more than that. Then what dost thou desire of me? said Abu-lHasan. My desire, answered Er-Rashid, is to be thy guest this night. And at length Abu-l-Hasan said, On the condition that thou swear to me by the inscription on the seal of Suleyman the son of Da'ud (on both of whom be peace!) that thou wilt not suffer thy 'Efrits to make sport with me. And Er-Rashid replied, I hear and obey.

So Abu-l-Hasan took him to his abode, and put the food before him and his attendants, and they ate as much as satisfied them; and when they had finished eating, the servants placed before them the wine and exhilarating beverages, and they continued drinking and carousing until the wine rose into their heads. Abu-l-Hasan then said to the Khalifeh, O my boon-companion, in truth I am perplexed respecting my case. It seemeth that I was Prince of the Faithful, and that I exercised authority and gave and bestowed: and truly, O my brother, it was not a vision of sleep. But the Khalifeh replied, This was a result of confused dreams. And having said this, he put a piece of benj into the cup, and said, By my life, drink this cup.Verily I will drink it from thy hand, replied Abu-l-Hasan. So he took the cup, and when he had drunk it, his head fell before his feet. The Khalifeh then arose immediately, and ordered his young men to convey Abu-l-Hasan to the palace, and to lay him upon his couch, and commanded the female

slaves to stand around him; after which he concealed himself in a place where Abu-l-Hasan could not see him, and ordered a slave-girl to take her lute and strike its chords over Abu-l-Hasan's head, and desired the other slave-girls to play upon their instruments.

It was then the close of the night, and Abu-l-Hasan, awaking, and hearing the sounds of the lutes and tambourines and flutes, and the singing of the slave-girls, cried out, O my mother! Whereupon the slave-girls answered, At thy service, O Prince of the Faithful! And when he heard this, he exclaimed, There is no strength nor power but in God, the High, the Great! Come to my help this night; for this night is more unlucky than the former !-He reflected upon all that had happened to him with his mother, and how he had beaten her, and how he had been taken into the madhouse, and he saw the marks of the beating that he had suffered there. Then looking at the scene that surrounded him, he said, These are all of them of the Jann, in the shapes of human beings! I commit my affair unto Allah! And looking towards a memluk by his side, he said to him, Bite my ear, that I may know if I be asleep or awake. The memluk said, How shall I bite thine ear, when thou art the Prince of the Faithful? But Abu-l-Hasan answered, Do as I have commanded thee, or I will strike off thy head. So he bit it until his teeth met together, and Abu-l-Hasan uttered a loud shriek.-Er-Rashid (who was behind a curtain in a closet), and all who were present, fell down with laughter, and they said to the memluk, Art thou mad, that thou bitest the ear of the Khalifeh? And Abu-lHasan said to them, Is it not enough that hath befallen me, ye wretches of Jinn? But ye are not in fault: the fault is your chief's, who transformed you from the shapes of Jinn into the shapes of human beings. I implore help against you this night by the Verse of the Throne, and the Chapter of Sincerity, and the Two Preventives!*-Upon this Er-Rashid exclaimed from behind the curtain, Thou hast killed us, O Abu-l-Hasan! And Abu-l-Hasan recognised him, and kissed the ground before him, greeting him with a prayer for the increase of his glory, and the prolongation of * Kur'an, ch. ii, v. 256 ; ch. cxii, cxiii, cxiv.

his life. Er-Rashid then clad him in a rich dress, gave him a thousand pieces of gold, and made him one of his chief boon-companions.

Abu-l-Hasan, after this, became a greater favourite with the Khalifeh than all the other boon-companions, so that he sat with the Khalifeh and his wife the lady Zubeydeh, the daughter of El-Kasim, and he married her female Treasurer, whose name was Nuzhet-el-Fuad. With this wife he resided, eating and drinking, and enjoying a delightful life, until all the money that they possessed had gone; whereupon he said to her, O Nuzhet-el-Fuad! And she answered, At thy service. I desire, said he, to practise a trick upon the Khalifeh, and thou shalt practise a trick upon the lady Zubeydeh, and we will obtain from them immediately two hundred pieces of gold, and two pieces of silk.Do what thou desirest, replied she: and what, she asked, is it? He answered, We will feign ourselves dead. I will die before thee, and lay myself out: then do thou spread over me a napkin of silk, and unfold my turban over me, and tie my toes, and put upon my stomach a knife and a little salt: after which, dishevel thy hair, and go to thy lady Zubeydeh, and tear thy vest and slap thy face, and shriek. So she will say to thee, What is the matter with thee? And do thou answer her, May thy head long survive Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; for he is dead! Whereupon she will mourn for me, and weep, and will order her [new] female Treasurer to give thee a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk, and will say to thee, Go, prepare his corpse for burial, and convey it forth to the grave. So thou shalt receive from her the hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk, and come hither. And when thou comest to me, I will rise, and thou shalt lay thyself down in my place, and I will go to the Khalifeh, and say to him, May thy head long survive Nuzhet-el-Fuad! And I will tear my vest, and pluck my beard; upon which he will mourn for thee, and will say to his Treasurer, Give to Abu-l-Hasan a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk:-and he will say to me, Go, prepare her corpse for burial, and convey it forth to the grave. So I will come to thee.—And Nuzhet-el-Fuad was delighted with this, and replied, Truly this is an excellent stratagem!

She forthwith closed his eyes, and tied his feet, covered him with the napkin, and did all that her master told her; after which, she tore her vest, uncovered her head, and dishevelled her hair, and went in to the lady Zubeydeh, shrieking and weeping. When the lady Zubeydeh, therefore, beheld her in this condition, she said to her, What is this state in which I see thee, and what hath happened unto thee, and what hath caused thee to weep? And Nuzhet-elFuad wept and shrieked, and said, O my mistress, may thy head long survive Abu-l-Hasan the Wag; for he is dead! And the lady Zubeydeh mourned for him, and said, Poor Abu-l-Hasan the Wag! Then, after weeping for him a while, she ordered the female Treasurer to give to Nuzhetel-Fuad a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk, and said, O Nuzhet-el-Fuad, go, prepare his body for burial, and convey it forth. So she took the hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk, and, returning to her abode, full of joy, went in to Abu-l-Hasan, and acquainted him with what had happened to her; upon which he arose and rejoiced, and girded his waist and danced, and took the hundred pieces of gold, with the piece of silk, and laid them up.

He then extended Nuzhet-el-Fuad, and did with her as she had done with him; after which, he tore his vest and plucked his beard and disordered his turban, and ran without stopping until he went in to the Khalifeh, who was in his hall of judgment; and in the condition above described, he beat his bosom. So the Khalifeh said to him, What hath befallen thee, O Abu-l-Hasan? And he wept, and said, Would that thy boon-companion had never been, nor his hour come to pass! The Khalifeh therefore said to him, Tell me. He replied, May thy head long survive, O my lord, Nuzhet-el-Fuad! And the Khalifeh exclaimed, There is no deity but God!—and struck his hands together. He then consoled Abu-l-Hasan, and said to him, Mourn not: I will give thee a concubine in her stead. And he ordered his Treasurer to give him a hundred pieces of gold, and a piece of silk. The Treasurer therefore did as he was commanded, and the Khalifeh said to Abu-l-Hasan, Go, prepare her corpse for burial, and convey it forth, and make a handsome funeral for her. And he took what the Khalifeh gave