Mesrur and the old woman entered the house of Abu-lHasan the Wag, and found him and his wife extended as if they were dead. And when the lady Zubeydeh saw them, she wept, and said, They continued to assert the death of my female slave 53 until she actually died; but I imagine that the death of Abu-l-Hasan so grieved her that she died after him in consequence of it. The Khalifeh, however, said, Do not prevent me with thy talk and assertions; for she died before Abu-l-Hasan, because Abu-l-Hasan came to me with his clothes torn in pieces, and with his beard plucked, and striking his bosom with two clods; and I gave him a hundred pieces of gold, with a piece of silk, and said to him, Go, prepare her body for burial, and I will give thee a concubine better than she, and she shall serve in her stead-and it appears that her loss was insupportable to him; so he died after her. I have therefore overcome thee, and gained thy stake.—But the lady Zubeydeh replied in many words, and a long dispute ensued between them.

The Khalifeh then seated himself at the heads of the two pretended corpses, and said, By the tomb of the Apostle of Allah (God bless and save him!), and by the tombs of my ancestors, if any one would tell me which of them died before the other, I would give him a thousand pieces of gold. And when Abu-l-Hasan heard these words of the Khalifeh, he quickly rose and sprang up, and said, It was I who died first, O Prince of the Faithful. Give me the thousand pieces of gold, and so acquit thyself of the oath that thou hast sworn.-Then Nuzhet-el-Fuad rose and sat up before the Khalifeh and the lady Zubeydeh, who rejoiced at their safety. But Zubeydeh chid her female slave. The Khalifeh and the lady Zubeydeh congratulated them both on their safety, and knew that this pretended death was a stratagem for the purpose of obtaining the gold: so the lady Zubeydeh said to Nuzhet-el-Fuad, Thou shouldst have asked of me what thou desiredst without this proceeding, and not have tortured my heart on thine account.-I was ashamed, O my mistress, replied Nuzhet-el-Fuad. But as to the Khalifeh, he was almost senseless from laughing, and said, O Abu-l-Hasan, thou hast not ceased to be a wag, and to do wonders and strange acts. Abu-l-Hasan

replied, O Prince of the Faithful, this stratagem I practised in consequence of the dissipation of the wealth that I received from thy hand; for I was ashamed to ask of thee a second time. When I was alone, I was not tenacious of wealth; but since thou hast married me to this female slave who is with me, if I possessed all thy wealth I should make an end of it. And when all that was in my possession was exhausted, I practised this stratagem, by means of which I obtained from thee these hundred pieces of gold, and the piece of silk, all of which are an alms of our lord. And now make haste in giving me the thousand pieces of gold, and acquit thyself of thine oath.

At this, the Khalifeh and the lady Zubeydeh both laughed; and after they had returned to the palace, the Khalifeh gave to Abu-l-Hasan the thousand pieces of gold, saying to him, Receive them as a gratuity on account of thy safety from death. In like manner also the lady Zubeydeh gave to Nuzhet-el-Fuad a thousand pieces of gold, saying to her the same words. Then the Khalifeh allotted to Abu-lHasan an ample salary and ample supplies, and he ceased not to live with his wife in joy and happiness, until they were visited by the terminator of delights, and the separator of companions, the devastator of palaces and houses, and the replenisher of the graves.

CHAPTER XIII

[NIGHTS 285-294]

THE STORY OF MOHAMMAD 'ALI THE JEWELLER, OR THE FALSE KHALIFEH

IT is related that the Khalifeh Harun Er-Rashid was troubled one night with an exceeding restlessness, in consequence of which he summoned his Wezir Ja'far ElBarmeki, and said to him, My bosom is contracted, and I desire this night to amuse myself in the streets of Baghdad, and to observe the employments of the people; but on the condition that we disguise ourselves in the garb of merchants, so that no one may know us. And the Wezir replied, I hear and obey. They arose immediately, and, having pulled off the magnificent apparel with which they were then clad, put on the attire of merchants. And they were three; the Khalifeh, and Ja'far, and Mesrur the Executioner.

They walked from place to place until they arrived at the Tigris, when they saw an old man sitting in a boat; and approaching him, they saluted him, and said to him, O sheykh, we desire of thy favour and kindness that thou wouldst amuse us in this thy boat, and take this piece of gold as thy hire. But the sheykh said, Who is he that can amuse himself here? For the Khalifeh Harun ErRashid embarketh every night on the river Tigris on board a small vessel, attended by a crier who proclaimeth and saith, O all ye companies of men, great and small, noble and plebeian, young men and youths, whosoever embarketh in a vessel and traverseth the Tigris, I will strike off his head, or hang him upon the mast of his vessel !-Ye have now almost encountered him; for his bark is approaching. -So the Khalifeh and Ja'far said, O sheykh, take these

*

two pieces of gold, and convey us into one of those arches, that we may remain there until the bark of the Khalifeh hath passed. And the sheykh replied, Give me the gold, and our reliance be upon God, whose name be exalted! He took the gold, set his boat afloat with them, and proceeded a little way; and, lo, the bark approached from the bosom of the Tigris, and in it were lighted candles and cressets.54 The sheykh therefore said to them, Did I not tell you that the Khalifeh passed along the river every night? Then he began to say, O excellent Protector, remove not the veils of thy protection! He conveyed them into an arch, and spread a black miʼzar over them; and they gratified their curiosity by gazing at the spectacle from beneath the mi'zar. They beheld at the head of the bark a man having in his hand a cresset of red gold, in which he was burning aloes-wood: he wore a vest of red satin; upon one of his shoulders was a piece of yellow embroidered stuff; 55 upon his head, a muslin turban; and upon his other shoulder, a bag of green silk full of aloes-wood, from which he supplied the cresset with fuel instead of using common firewood. They saw likewise another man, at the stern of the bark, clad as the former one, and having in his hand a similar cresset. And there were also in the bark two hundred memluks, standing on the right and left; and in it was placed a throne of red gold, upon which was sitting a handsome young man, like the moon, clad in a dress of black,† with embroidery of yellow gold. Before him was a man resembling the Wezir Ja'far, and at his head stood a eunuch like Mesrur, with a drawn sword in his hand. And they saw moreover twenty boon-companions.

Now when the Khalifeh beheld this, he said, O Ja'far. The Wezir replied, At thy service, O Prince of the Faithful. And the Khalifeh said, Probably this is one of my sons; either El-Ma'mun, or El-Emin. Then gazing at the young man as he sat on the throne, he beheld him to be of consummate beauty and loveliness, and justness of stature; and after attentively observing him, he looked towards the Wezir, and said, O Wezir.-At thy service, * Waistcloth.

†The colour worn by the 'Abbasi Khalifehs.

replied Ja'far. And the Khalifeh said, By Allah, this person sitting on the throne hath not omitted any thing appertaining to the distinctions of the Khalifeh; and he who is before him is as though he were thyself, O Ja'far; and the eunuch who is standing at his head, as though he were Mesrur; and these boon-companions are as though they were my boon-companions. My reason is confounded at this affair! By Allah, I am full of wonder at this event, O Ja'far! And I also, by Allah, O Prince of the Faithful! replied the Wezir.-The bark then passed on until it disappeared from before their eyes; whereupon the sheykh put forth with his boat, and said, Praise be to God for our safety, and that no one hath fallen in with us! And the Khalifeh said, O sheykh, doth the Khalifeh every night embark on the Tigris? The sheykh answered, Yes, O my master; and for a whole year he hath continued to do so. And the Khalifeh said, O sheykh, we desire of thy favour that thou wouldst wait for us here next night, and we will give thee five pieces of gold; for we are strangers, and wish to amuse ourselves, and we are lodging in [the quarter of] El-Khandak. The sheykh replied, I am entirely at your service.

Then the Khalifeh and Ja'far and Mesrur departed from the sheykh and returned to the palace, and having taken off their merchants' attire, and put on the apparel of state, each seated himself in his place. The emirs and wezirs came in, and the chamberlains and lieutenants, and the council was fully attended. And when the day closed, and all ranks of the people had dispersed, each having gone his way, the Khalifeh Harun Er-Rashid said, O Ja'far, arise with us that we may amuse ourselves with the sight of the other Khalifeh. Whereupon Ja'far and Mesrur laughed.

They clad themselves again in the attire of merchants, and went forth and pursued their way through the city, in a state of the utmost hilarity. They went out from a private door; and when they arrived at the Tigris, they found the sheykh, the owner of the boat, sitting waiting for them. So they embarked with him in the boat; and they had not long sat with him when the bark of the False Khalifeh

* Lit., second or other Khalifeh.