thousand pieces of gold, said, O Kadi, perform the ceremony of my contract of marriage to this damsel for this sum as a dowry. The Kadi therefore said to her, Say, I consent to that. And she said so. So they performed the ceremony of the contract; and after that, the damsel opened the purse, filled her hand with part of its contents, and gave to the Kadi and the witnesses. Then she handed to him [Jubeyr] what remained in the purse, and the Kadi and witnesses departed.

I sat with them in joy and gladness until the greater part of the night had passed, when I said within myself, They are two lovers, and during a long period they have been separated; so I will arise immediately, that I may sleep in a place remote from them, and leave them together alone. Accordingly I arose; but the damsel laid hold upon my skirts, and said to me, What hath thy mind suggested to thee? I answered, Such and such things. And she replied, Sit, and when we desire thy departure, we will dismiss thee. I therefore remained sitting with them until the approach of the dawn, when she said, O Ibn-Mansur, go to yon private chamber; for we have furnished it for thee, and it is thy sleeping-place. And I arose, and slept in it until the morning; and when I got up, there came to me a page with a basin and ewer, and I performed the ablution, and recited the morning-prayers; after which I sat. And while I was sitting, lo, Jubeyr and his beloved came forth from a bath that was in the house, wringing their locks; and I bade them good morning, congratulating them on their safety and their reunion, and said to Jubeyr, What beginneth with stipulation endeth with content. He replied, Thou hast spoken truth, and thou art entitled to liberal treatment. Then calling his treasurer, he said to him, Bring to me three thousand pieces of gold. So he brought him a purse containing that sum, and Jubeyr said to me, Do us the favour to accept this. But I replied, I will not accept it until thou inform me what was the cause of the transition of the love from her to thee, after that excessive repulsion. And he said, I hear and obey. Know that we have a festival called the Festival of the New-year's-days, when the people go forth and embark in boats, and amuse themselves upon the

river. And I went forth to amuse myself with my companions, and saw a boat wherein were ten slave-girls like moons, and this lady Budur was in the midst of them, having her lute with her; and she played upon it eleven airs; after which she returned to the first air, and sang these verses :

Fire is cooler than the fires of my bosom; and rock is softer than the heart of my lord.

Verily I wonder at his composition, with a heart of rock in a body soft as water.

And I said to her, Repeat the two verses and the air. But she would not. So I ordered the boatmen to pelt her; and they pelted her with oranges until we feared that the boat in which she was would sink. Then she went her way: and this was the cause of the transition of the love from her heart to mine.-I therefore, says Ibn-Mansur, congratulated them on their reunion, and, taking the purse with its contents, repaired to Baghdad.

And the bosom of the Khalifeh was dilated, and the restlessness, and the contraction of the heart that he suffered, ceased to trouble him.

ANECDOTES 70

[NIGHTS 334-357]

INSTANCES OF THE VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE

IT is related that a man was burdened with numerous debts, and his circumstances became strait_unto him; so he left his people and his family, and went forth wandering in perplexity and at random. He ceased not to proceed until he approached, after a length of time, a city with lofty walls, and great buildings, and he entered it in a state of abasement and despondency. His hunger had become violent, and the journey had wearied him; and as he walked through one of its great thoroughfare-streets, he saw a company of the great passing along; whereupon he proceeded with them until they entered an abode resembling the abode of Kings, and he entered with them, and they went in until they came to a man sitting at the upper end of the mansion. He was of magnificent appearance, and great dignity, and surrounded by pages and servants, as though he were of the sons of the wezirs; and when he saw the party, he rose to them, and treated them with respectful hospitality. So trouble of mind overcame the man above mentioned at witnessing this thing, and he was confounded at that which he beheld of the beauty of the building, and the servants and dependants. He therefore drew back, in perplexity and distress, fearing for himself, until he seated himself in a place alone, remote from the people, that no one might see him. And while he was sitting, lo, there approached a man with whom were four dogs, of the dogs of the chase, decked with varieties of silk and brocade, and having, upon their necks, collars of gold with chains of silver; and he chained each of them in a separate place. Then he went away, and returned bringing to each dog a dish of gold full of rich food, and he put before each of them his separate dish, and departed and left them. This man therefore began to look at the food, on account of the violence of his hunger, and desired to advance to one of the dogs and to eat with him; but his fear of them prevented him. Presently, however, one of the dogs looked at him, and God (whose name be exalted!) inspired him with a knowledge of his case: so he drew back from the dish, and made a sign to the man, who thereupon approached, and ate until he was satisfied, when he would have departed; but the dog made a sign to him that he should take the dish, with the food remaining in it, for himself, and pushed it towards him with his fore-paw.

He therefore took it, and went forth from the house, and proceeded without any one following him.

He then journeyed to another city, where he sold the dish, and, having purchased merchandise with its price, returned with it to his own town. There he sold what he had brought, and discharged the debts that he owed, and his wealth increased so that he became in a state of abundant affluence and perfect prosperity; and he ceased not to reside in his town for a length of time; after which, he said within himself, I must journey to the city of the owner of the dish, and take for him a handsome and suitable present, and pay him the price of the dish which one of his dogs bestowed upon me. Then he took a present befitting that person, and took with him the price of the dish, and set forth on his journey.

He ceased not in his journey days and nights until he arrived at that city, and he entered it, desiring to meet with the man; and he walked along its great thoroughfare-streets until he approached his abode. But he saw nothing of it save mouldering ruins, and a raven uttering its lamentable cry, and dwelling-places rendered desolate, and circumstances changed, and a state of things so altered as not to be recognised; whereupon his heart and soul were agitated, and he recited the words of the poet :

The recesses are devoid of their hidden treasures, as hearts are devoid of sciences and piety;

And the valley is changed altogether, and its gazelles are not those antelopes, nor is its sand-heap that sand-heap.

And the saying of another :

The phantom of So'da came by night to rouse me, towards morning, while my companions were sleeping in the desert:

But when we awoke to behold the nightly phantom, I saw the air vacant, and the place of visitation distant.

And when that man beheld those mouldering ruins, and saw what the hands of fortune had openly done unto them, and found of the substance nothing but traces, knowledge rendered it needless for him to ask information. He then looked aside, and saw a miserable man, in a state that made the skin to quake at it, and rock to be moved with sympathy for it; and he said, O thou!* what have fortune and time done with the master of this place, and where are his shining full moons and brilliant stars, and what hath been the cause of the event that hath happened unto his structures, that there remaineth of them naught save the walls? He answered, He is this miserable wretch whom thou seest, sighing on account of that which hath come upon him. But knowest thou not (he added) that in the saying of the Apostle is a lesson to him who would follow it, and an admonition to him who would be directed aright,—his saying (God bless and save him !), Verily it is the way of God (whose name be exalted!) not to

* The expression thus rendered is generally used as one of slight contempt.

elevate any thing of this world without afterwards bringing it down? If thou inquire respecting the cause of this event, there is nothing in the vicissitudes of fortune wonderful. I was the master of this place, and its founder and proprietor and builder, and the possessor of its shining full moons and magnificent appurtenances and splendid rarities and beautiful slave-girls: fortune however hath turned from me, and taken away the servants and the wealth, and reduced me to this present condition, and brought upon me events that it before kept concealed. But there must be a cause for this thine inquiry. Acquaint me then with it, and cease to wonder.-So the man acquainted him with the whole affair, being the while in grief and distress, and said to him, I have brought thee a present such as souls desire, and the price of thy dish of gold that I took; for it was the cause of enriching me after my poverty, and of the replenishment of my abode after it was desolate, and of the dissipation of the anxiety and straitness that I suffered. the other man shook his head, and wept and sighed and lamented, and said, O thou! I imagine thou art a madman: for this conduct proceedeth not from a man of sense. How should one of our dogs make thee a present of a dish of gold, and I take it back? My taking back that which my dog hath presented would be wonderful; and were I in the severest anxiety and disease, by Allah, there should not find acceptance with me, from thee, any thing of the value of a nail-paring. So go to the place whence thou camest, in health and safety.-The man therefore kissed his feet, and went forth on his return, praising him; and on parting with him, and taking leave of him, recited this verse :The men and the dogs are gone together; and on the men and the dogs be peace!

-And God is all-knowing.

But

HOSAM-ED-DIN THE WALI, AND A SHARPER

There was, in the fortified coast-town of Alexandria, a Wali named Hosam-ed-Din; and as he was sitting in his seat of office one night, there came to him a trooper, who said to him, Know, O our lord the Wali, that I entered this city in the present night, and took up my lodging in such a Khan, and slept there until a third of the night had passed; and when I awoke, I found my pair of saddle-bags cut open, and there had been stolen from it a purse containing a thousand pieces of gold. And his words were not ended when the Wali sent, and caused the Mukaddams to come before him, and ordered them to bring all who were in the Khan, commanding them also to imprison those persons till the morning. So when the morning came, he gave orders to bring the instruments of punishment. He then caused those men to be brought before him in the presence of the trooper, the owner of the money, and was about to punish them.

But, lo, a man approached, forcing his way among the people until he stood before the Wali and the trooper; and he said, O Emir, release