Sea-captain asked Abu Sir the cause of the King’s wrath with him, he
replied, “By Allah, O my brother I have committed no crime against him
which meriteth this!” Rejoined the Captain, “Verily, thou wast high in
rank with the King, such as none ever won before thee, and all who are
prosperous are envied. Haply some one was jealous of thy good fortune
and threw out certain hints concerning thee to the King, by reason
whereof he is become enraged against thee with rage so violent: but be
of good cheer; no harm shall befal thee; for, even as thou entreatedst
me generously, without acquaintanceship between me and thee, so now I
will deliver thee. But, an if I release thee, thou must abide with me on
this island till some galleon sail from our city to thy native land,
when I will send thee thither therein.” Abu Sir kissed his hand and
thanked him for that; after which the Captain fetched the quicklime and
set it in a sack, together with a great stone, the size of a man,
saying, “I put my trust in Allah!”[224] Then he gave the barber a net,
saying, “Cast this net into the sea, so haply thou mayst take somewhat
of fish. For I am bound to supply the King’s kitchen with fish every
day; but to-day I have been distracted from fishing by this calamity
which hath befallen thee, and I fear lest the cook’s boys come to me in
quest of fish and find none. So, an thou take aught, they will find it
and thou wilt veil my face,[225] whilst I go and play off my practice in
front of the palace and feign to cast thee into the sea.” Answered Abu
Sir, “I will fish the while; go thou and God help thee!” So the Captain
set the sack in the boat and paddled till he came under the palace,
where he saw the King seated at the lattice and said to him, “O King of
the age, shall I cast him in?” “Cast him!” cried the King, and signed to
him with his hand, when lo and behold!; something flashed like leven and
fell into the sea. Now that which had fallen into the water was the
King’s seal-ring; and the same was enchanted in such way that, when the
King was wroth with any one and was minded to slay him, he had but to
sign to him with his right hand, whereon was the signet-ring, and
therefrom issued a flash of lightning, which smote the object, and
thereupon his head fell from between his shoulders; and the troops
obeyed him not, nor did he overcome the men of might save by means of
the ring. So, when it dropped from his finger, he concealed the matter
and kept silence, for that he dared not say, “My ring is fallen into the
sea,” for fear of the troops, lest they rise against him and slay him.
On this wise it befel the King; but as regards Abu Sir, after the
Captain had left him on the island he took the net and casting it into
the sea presently drew it up full of fish; nor did he cease to throw it
and pull it up full, till there was a great mound of fish before him. So
he said in himself, “By Allah, this long while I have not eaten fish!”;
and chose himself a large fat fish, saying, “When the Captain cometh
back, I will bid him fry it for me, so I may dine on it.” Then he cut
its throat with a knife he had with him; but the knife stuck in its
gills and there he saw the King’s signet-ring; for the fish had
swallowed it and Destiny had driven it to that island, where it had
fallen into the net. He took the ring and drew it on his little
finger,[226] not knowing its peculiar properties. Presently, up came two
of the cook’s boys in quest of fish and seeing Abu Sir, said to him, “O
man, whither is the Captain gone?” “I know not,” said he and signed to
them with his right hand; when, behold, the heads of both underlings
dropped off from between their shoulders. At this Abu Sir was amazed and
said, “Would I wot who slew them!” And their case was grievous to him
and he was still pondering it, when the Captain suddenly returned and
seeing the mound of fishes and two men lying dead and the seal-ring on
Abu Sir’s finger, said to him, “O my brother, move not thy hand whereon
is the signet-ring; else thou wilt kill me.” Abu Sir wondered at this
speech and kept his hand motionless; whereupon the Captain came up to
him and said, “Who slew these two men?” “By Allah, O my brother I wot
not!” “Thou sayst sooth; but tell me whence hadst thou that ring?” “I
found it in this fish’s gills.” “True,” said the Captain, “for I saw it
fall flashing from the King’s palace and disappear in the sea, what time
he signed towards thee,[227] saying, Cast him in. So I cast the sack
into the water, and it was then that the ring slipped from his finger
and fell into the sea, where this fish swallowed it, and Allah drave it
to thee, so that thou madest it thy prey, for this ring was thy lot; but
kennest thou its property?” Said Abu Sir, “I knew not that it had any
properties peculiar to it;” and the Captain said, “Learn, then, that the
King’s troops obey him not save for fear of this signet-ring, because it
is spelled, and when he was wroth with any one and had a mind to kill
him, he would sign at him therewith and his head would drop from between
his shoulders; for there issued a flash of lightning from the ring and
its ray smote the object of his wrath, who died forthright.” At this,
Abu Sir rejoiced with exceeding joy and said to the Captain, “Carry me
back to the city;” and he said, “That will I, now that I no longer fear
for thee from the King; for, wert thou to sign at him with thy hand,
purposing to kill him, his head would fall down between thy hands; and
if thou be minded to slay him and all his host, thou mayst slaughter
them without let or hindrance.” So saying, he embarked him in the boat
and bore him back to the city;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.
[Illustration]
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Thirty-ninth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Captain
embarked with Abu Sir he bore him back to the city, so Abu Sir landed
and going up to the palace, entered the council-chamber, where he found
the King seated facing his officers, in sore cark and care by reason of
the seal-ring and daring not tell any of his folk anent its loss. When
he saw Abu Sir, he said to him, “Did we not cast thee into the sea? How
hast thou contrived to come forth of it?” Abu Sir replied, “O King of
the age, whenas thou badest throw me into the sea, thy Captain carried
me to an island and asked me of the cause of thy wrath against me,
saying:—What hast thou done with the King, that he should decree thy
death? I answered, By Allah, I know not that I have wrought him any
wrong! Quoth he:—Thou wast high in rank with the King, and haply some
one envied thee and threw out certain hints concerning thee to him, so
that he is become incensed against thee. But when I visited thee in thy
Hammam, thou entreatedst me honourably, and I will requite thee thy
hospitality to me by setting thee free and sending thee back to thine
own land. Then he set a great stone in the sack in my stead and cast it
into the sea; but, when thou signedst to him to throw me in, thy
seal-ring dropped from thy finger into the main, and a fish swallowed
it. Now I was on the island a-fishing, and this fish came up in the net
with others; whereupon I took it, intending to broil it; but, when I
opened its belly, I found the signet-ring therein; so I took it and put
it on my finger. Presently, up came two of the servants of the kitchen,
questing fish, and I signed to them with my hand, knowing not the
property of the seal-ring, and their heads fell off. Then the Captain
came back, and seeing the ring on my finger, acquainted me with its
spell; and behold, I have brought it back to thee, for that thou
dealtest kindly by me and entreatedst me with the utmost honour, nor is
that which thou hast done me of kindness lost upon me. Here is thy ring;
take it! But an I have done with thee aught deserving of death, tell me
my crime and slay me and thou shalt be absolved of sin in shedding my
blood.” So saying, he pulled the ring from his finger and gave it to the
King who, seeing Abu Sir’s noble conduct, took the ring and put it on
and felt life return to him afresh. Then he rose to his feet and
embracing the barber, said to him, “O man, thou art indeed of the flower
of the well-born! Blame me not, but forgive me the wrong I have done
thee. Had any but thou gotten hold of this ring, he had never restored
it to me.” Answered Abu Sir, “O King of the age, an thou wouldst have me
forgive thee, tell me what was my fault which drew down thine anger upon
me, so that thou commandedst to do me die.” Rejoined the King, “By
Allah, ’tis clear to me that thou art free and guiltless in all things
of offence since thou hast done this good deed; only the dyer denounced
thee to me in such and such words;” and he told him all that Abu Kir had
said. Abu Sir replied, “By Allah, O King of the age, I know no King of
the Nazarenes nor during my days have ever journeyed to a Christian
country, nor did it ever come into my mind to kill thee. But this dyer
was my comrade and neighbour in the city of Alexandria where life was
straitened upon us; therefore we departed thence, to seek our fortunes,
by reason of the narrowness of our means at home, after we had recited
the Opening Chapter of the Koran together, pledging ourselves that he
who got work should feed him who lacked work; and there befel me with
him such and such things.” Then he went on to relate to the King all
that had betided him with Abu Kir the dyer; how he had robbed him of his
dirhams and had left him alone and sick in the Khan-closet and how the
door-keeper had fed him of his own monies till Allah recovered him of
his sickness, when he went forth and walked about the city with his
budget, as was his wont, till he espied a dyery, about which the folk
were crowding; so he looked at the door and seeing Abu Kir seated on a
bench there, went in to salute him, whereupon he accused him of being a
thief and beat him a grievous beating; brief, he told him his whole
tale, from first to last, and added, “O King of the age, ’twas he who
counselled me to make the depilatory and present it to thee, saying:—The
Hammam is perfect in all things but that it lacketh this; and know, O
King of the age, that this drug is harmless and we use it in our land
where ’tis one of the requisites of the bath; but I had forgotten it:
so, when the dyer visited the Hammam I entreated him with honour and he
reminded me of it, and enjoined me to make it forthwith. But do thou
send after the porter of such a Khan and the workmen of the dyery and
question them all of that which I have told thee.” Accordingly the King
sent for them and questioned them one and all and they acquainted him
with the truth of the matter. Then he summoned the dyer, saying, “Bring
him barefooted, bareheaded and with elbows pinioned!” Now he was sitting
in his house, rejoicing in Abu Sir’s death; but ere he could be ware,
the King’s guards rushed in upon him and cuffed him on the nape, after
which they bound him and bore him into the presence, where he saw Abu
Sir seated by the King’s side and the door-keeper of the Khan and
workmen of the dyery standing before him. Quoth the door-keeper to him,
“Is not this thy comrade whom thou robbedst of his silvers and leftest
with me sick in the closet doing such and such by him?” And the workmen
said to him, “Is not this he whom thou badest us seize and beat?”
Therewith Abu Kir’s baseness was made manifest to the King and he was
certified that he merited torture yet sorer than the torments of Munkar
and Nakír.[228] So he said to his guards, “Take him and parade him about
the city and the markets;”——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and
ceased to say her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Fortieth Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the King
heard the words spoken by the door-keeper of the Caravanserai and the
workmen of the dyery, he was certified of the vileness of Abu Kir; so he
upbraided him with flout and fleer and said to his guards, “Take him and
parade him about the city and the market-streets; then set him in a sack
and cast him into the sea.” Whereupon quoth Abu Sir, “O King of the age,
accept my intercession for him, for I pardon him all he hath done with
me.” But quoth the King, “An thou pardon him all his offences against
thee, I cannot pardon him his offences against me.” And he cried out,
saying, “Take him.” So they took him and paraded him about the city,
after which they set him in a sack with quicklime and cast him into the
sea, and he died, drowned and burnt. Then said the King to the barber,
“O Abu Sir, ask of me what thou wilt and it shall be given thee.” And he
answered, saying, “I ask of thee to send me back to my own country, for
I care no longer to tarry here.” Then the King gifted him great store of
gifts, over and above that which he had whilome bestowed on him; and
amongst the rest a galleon freighted with goods; and the crew of this
galleon were Mamelukes; so he gave him these also, after offering to
make him his Wazir whereto the barber consented not. Presently he
farewelled the King and set sail in his own ship manned by his own crew;
nor did he cast anchor till he reached Alexandria and made fast to the
shore there. Then they landed and one of his Mamelukes, seeing a sack on
the beach, said to Abu Sir, “O my lord, there is a great heavy sack on
the sea-shore, with the mouth tied up and I know not what therein.” So
Abu Sir came up and opening the sack, found therein the remains of Abu
Kir, which the sea had borne thither. He took it forth and burying it
near Alexandria, built over the grave a place of visitation and endowed
it with mortmain writing over the door these couplets:—
Man is known among men as his deeds attest; ✿ Which make noble origin
manifest:
Backbite not, lest other men bite thy back; ✿ Who saith aught, the same
shall to him be addrest:
Shun immodest words and indecent speech ✿ When thou speakest in earnest
or e’en in jest.[229]
We bear with the dog which behaves itself ✿ But the lion is chained lest
he prove a pest:
And the desert carcases swim the main ✿ While union-pearls on the
sand-bank rest[230]:
No sparrow would hustle the sparrow-hawk, ✿ Were it not by folly and
weakness prest:
A-sky is written on page of air, ✿ “Who doth kindly of kindness shall
have the best!”
’Ware of gathering sugar from bitter gourd:[231] ✿ ’Twill prove to its
origin like in taste.
After this Abu Sir abode awhile, till Allah took him to Himself, and
they buried him hard by the tomb of his comrade Abu Kir; wherefore that
place was called Abu Kir and Abu Sir; but it is now known as Abu Kir
only. This, then, is that which hath reached us of their history, and
glory be to Him who endureth for ever and aye and by whose will
interchange the night and the day. And of the stories they tell is one
anent
-----
Footnote 184:
Abú Sír is a manifest corruption of the old Egyptian Pousiri, the
Busiris of our classics, and it gives a name to sundry villages in
modern Egypt where it is usually pronounced “Búsír.” Abú Kír lit. =
the Father of Pitch, is also corrupted to Abou Kir (Bay); and the
townlet now marks the site of jolly old Canopus, the Chosen Land of
Egyptian debauchery.
Footnote 185:
It is interesting to note the superior gusto with which the Eastern,
as well as the Western tale-teller describes his scoundrels and
villains whilst his good men and women are mostly colourless and
unpicturesque. So Satan is the true hero of Paradise-Lost and by his
side God and man are very ordinary; and Mephistopheles is much better
society than Faust and Margaret.
Footnote 186:
Arab. “Dukhán,” lit. = smoke, here tobacco for the Chibouk, “Timbák”
or “Tumbák” being the stronger (Persian and other) variety which must
be washed before smoking in the Shíshah or water-pipe. Tobacco is
mentioned here only and is evidently inserted by some scribe: the
“weed” was not introduced into the East before the end of the
sixteenth century (about a hundred years after coffee), when it
radically changed the manners of society.
Footnote 187:
Which meant that the serjeant, after the manner of such officials,
would make him pay dearly before giving up the key. Hence a very
severe punishment in the East is to “call in a policeman” who
carefully fleeces all those who do not bribe him to leave them in
freedom.
Footnote 188:
Arab. “Má Dáhiyatak?” lit. “What is thy misfortune?” The phrase is
slighting if not insulting.
Footnote 189:
Amongst Moslems the plea of robbing to keep life and body together
would be accepted by a good man like Abu Sir, who still consorted with
a self-confessed thief.
Footnote 190:
To make their agreement religiously binding. See vol. iv. 36.
Footnote 191:
Arab. “Ghaliyún” many of our names for craft seem connected with
Arabic: I have already noted “Carrack” = harrák; to which add Uskuf in
Marocco pronounced ’Skuff = skiff; Katírah = a cutter; Bárijah = a
barge; etc., etc.
Footnote 192:
The patient is usually lathered in a big basin of tinned brass, a
“Mambrino’s helmet” with a break in the rim to fit the throat; but the
poorer classes carry only a small cup with water instead of soap and
water ignoring the Italian proverb, “Barba ben saponata mezza fatta” =
well lathered is half shaved. A napkin fringed at either end is
usually thrown over the Figaro’s shoulder and used to wipe the razor.
Footnote 193:
Arab. “Nusf.” See vol. ii. 37.
Footnote 194:
Arab. “Batárikh” the roe (sperm or spawn) of the salted Fasíkh (fish)
and the Búrí (_mugil cephalus_) a salt-water fish caught in the Nile
and considered fair eating. Some write Butárghá from the old Egyptian
town Burát, now a ruin between Tinnis and Damietta (Sonnini).
Footnote 195:
Arab. “Kaptán,” see vol. iv. 85.
Footnote 196:
Arab. “Anyáb,” plur. of Náb applied to the grinder teeth but mostly to
the canines or eye teeth, tusks of animals etc. (See vol. vii. p. 339)
opp. to Saniyah, one of the four central incisors, a camel in the
sixth year and horse, cow, sheep and goat in fourth year.
Footnote 197:
The coffee (see also vol. viii. 274) like the tobacco is probably due
to the scribe; but the tale appears to be comparatively modern. In The
Nights men eat, drink and wash their hands but do not smoke and sip
coffee like the moderns. See my Terminal Essay § 2.
Footnote 198:
Arab. “Mi’lakah” (Bresl. Edit. x, 456). The fork is modern even in the
East and the Moors borrow their term for it from fourchette. But the
spoon, which may have begun with a cockle-shell, dates from the
remotest antiquity.
Footnote 199:
Arab. “Sufrah” properly the cloth or leather upon which food is
placed. See vol. i. 178.
Footnote 200:
_i.e._ gaining much one day and little another.
Footnote 201:
Lit. “Rest thyself” _i.e._ by changing posture.
Footnote 202:
Arab. “’Unnábi” = between dark yellow and red.
Footnote 203:
Arab. “Nílah” lit. = indigo, but here applied to all the materials for
dyeing. The word is the Sansk. नील growth probably came from India
although during the Crusaders’ occupation of Jerusalem it was
cultivated in the valley of the lower Jordan. I need hardly say that
it has nothing to do with the word “Nile” whose origin is still sub
judice. And yet I lately met a sciolist who pompously announced to me
this philological absurdity as a discovery of his own.
Footnote 204:
Still a popular form of “bilking” in the Wakálahs or Caravanserais of
Cairo: but as a rule the Bawwáb (porter or doorkeeper) keeps a sharp
eye on those he suspects. The evil is increased when women are
admitted into these places; so periodical orders for their exclusion
are given to the police.
Footnote 205:
Natives of Egypt always hold this diaphoresis a sign that the disease
has abated and they regard it rightly in the case of bilious
remittents to which they are subject, especially after the hardships
and sufferings of a sea-voyage with its alternations of fasting and
over-eating.
Footnote 206:
Not simply, “such and such events happened to him” (Lane); but, “a
curious chance befel him.”
Footnote 207:
Arab. “Harámi,” lit. = one who lives on unlawful gains; popularly a
thief.
Footnote 208:
_i.e._ he turned on the water, hot and cold.
Footnote 209:
Men are often seen doing this in the Hammam. The idea is that the skin
when free from sebaceous exudation sounds louder under the clapping.
Easterns judge much by the state of the perspiration, especially in
horse-training, which consists of hand-gallops for many successive
miles. The sweat must not taste over salt and when held between thumb
and forefinger and the two are drawn apart must not adhere in
filaments.
Footnote 210:
Lit. “Aloes for making Nadd;” see vol. i. 310. “Eagle-wood” (the Malay
Aigla and Agallochum the Sansk. Agura) gave rise to many corruptions
as lignum aloes, the Portuguese Páo d’ Aguila etc. “Calamba” or
“Calambak” was the finest kind. See Colonel Yule in the “Voyage of
Linschoten” (vol. i. 120 and 150). Edited for the Hackluyt Soc. (1885)
by my learned and most amiable friend, the late Arthur Cooke Burnell.
Footnote 211:
The Hammam is one of those unpleasant things which are left “Alà
júdi-k” = to thy generosity; and the higher the bather’s rank the more
he or she is expected to pay. See Pilgrimage i. 103. In 1853 I paid at
Cairo 3 piastres and twenty paras, something more than sixpence, but
now five shillings would be asked.
Footnote 212:
This is something like the mythical duchess in England who could not
believe that the poor were starving when sponge-cakes were so cheap.
Footnote 213:
This magnificent “Bakhshish” must bring water into the mouths of all
the bath-men in the coffee-house assembly.
Footnote 214:
_i.e._ the treasurer did not, as is the custom of such gentry, demand
and receive a large “Bakhshish” on the occasion.
Footnote 215:
A fair specimen of clever Fellah chaff.
Footnote 216:
In the first room of the Hammam, called the Maslakh or
stripping-place, the keeper sits by a large chest in which he deposits
the purses and valuables of his customers and also makes it the
_caisse_ for the pay. Something of the kind is now done in the
absurdly called “Turkish Baths” of London.
Footnote 217:
This is the rule in Egypt and Syria and a clout hung over the door
shows that women are bathing. I have heard, but only heard, that in
times and places when eunuchs went in with the women youths managed by
long practice to retract the testicles so as to pass for castratos. It
is hard to say what perseverance may not effect in this line; witness
Orsini and his abnormal development of hearing, by exercising muscles
which are usually left idle.
Footnote 218:
This reference to Allah shows that Abu Sir did not believe his
dyer-friend.
Footnote 219:
Arab. “Dawá” (lit. remedy, medicine) the vulgar term: see vol. iv.
256: also called Rasmah, Núrah and many other names.
Footnote 220:
Arab. “Má Kahara-ní” = or none hath overcome me.
Footnote 221:
Bresl. Edit. “The King of Isbániya.” For the “Ishbán” (Spaniards) an
ancient people descended from Japhet son of Noah and who now are no
more, see Al-Mas’udi (Fr. Transl. i. 361). The “Herodotus of the
Arabs” recognises only the “Jalálikah” or Gallicians, thus bearing
witness to the antiquity and importance of the Gallego race.
Footnote 222:
Arab. “Sha’r,” properly, hair of body, pile, especially the pecten.
See Burckhardt (Prov. No. 202), “grieving for lack of a cow she made a
whip of her bush,” said of those who console themselves by building
Castles in Spain. The “parts below the waist” is the decent Turkish
term for the privities.
Footnote 223:
The drowning is a martyr’s death, the burning is a foretaste of
Hell-fire.
Footnote 224:
Meaning that if the trick had been discovered the Captain would have
taken the barber’s place. We have seen (vol. i. 63) the Prime Minister
superintending the royal kitchen and here the Admiral fishes for the
King’s table. It is even more naïve than the Court of Alcinöus.
Footnote 225:
Bresl. Edit. xi. 32: _i.e._ save me from disgrace.
Footnote 226:
Arab. “Khinsir” or “Khinsar,” the little finger or the middle finger.
In Arabic each has its own name or names which is also that of the
corresponding toe _e.g._ Ibhám (thumb); Sabbábah, Musabbah or Da”áah
(forefinger); Wastá (medius); Binsir (annularis, ring-finger) and
Khinsar (minimus). There are also names for the several spaces between
the fingers. See the English Arabic Dictionary (London, Kegan Paul and
Co., 1881) by the Revd. Dr. Badger, a work of immense labour and
research but which I fear has been to the learned author a labour of
love not of profit.
Footnote 227:
Meaning of course that the King signed towards the sack in which he
supposed the victim to be, but the ring fell off before it could take
effect. The Eastern story-teller often balances his multiplicity of
words and needless details by a conciseness and an elliptical style
which make his meaning a matter of divination.
Footnote 228:
See vol. v. iii.
Footnote 229:
This couplet was quoted to me by my friend the Rev. Dr. Badger when he
heard that I was translating “The Nights”: needless to say that it is
utterly inappropriate.
Footnote 230:
For a similar figure see vol. i. 25.
Footnote 231:
Arab. “Hanzal”: see vol. v. 19.
ABDULLAH[232] THE FISHERMAN AND ABDULLAH THE MERMAN.
There was once a Fisherman named Abdullah, who had a large family, to
wit, nine children and their mother, so was he poor, very poor, owning
naught save his net. Every day he used to go to the sea a-fishing, and
if he caught little, he sold it and spent the price on his children,
after the measure of that which Allah vouchsafed him of provision; but,
if he caught much, he would cook a good mess of meat and buy fruit and
spend without stint till nothing was left him, saying to himself, “The
daily bread of to-morrow will come to-morrow.” Presently, his wife gave
birth to another child, making a total of ten, and it chanced that day
that he had nothing at all; so she said to him, “O my master, see and
get me somewhat wherewithal I may sustain myself.” Quoth he, “I am going
(under favour of Almighty Allah) this day seawards to fish on the luck
of this new-born child, that we may see its fair fortune;” and quoth
she, “Put thy trust in Allah!” So he took his net and went down to the
sea-shore, where he cast it on the luck of the little one, saying, “O my
God, make his living of ease not of unease, and abundant, not scant!”
Then he waited awhile and drew in the net, which came up full of rubbish
and sand and pebbles and weeds, and he saw therein no sign of fish
neither muchel nor little. He cast it again and waited, then drew it in,
but found no catch in it, and threw it a third and a fourth and a fifth
time; still not a single fish came up. So he removed to another place
beseeching his daily bread of Allah Almighty and thus he kept working
till the end of the day, but caught not so much as a minnow;[233]
whereat he fell a-marvelling in himself and said self-communing, “Hath
Allah then created this new-born child without lot of provision? This
may never, never be. He who slitteth the corners of the lips hath
pledged Himself for its provision, because Almighty Allah is the
Bountiful, the Provider!”[234] So saying, he shouldered his net and
turned him homewards, broken-spirited and heavy at heart about his
family, for that he had left them without food, more by token that his
wife was in the straw. And as he continued trudging along and saying in
himself, “How shall I do and what shall I say to the children to-night?”
he came to a baker’s oven and saw a crowd about it; for the season was
one of dearth and in those days food was scant with the folk; so people
were proffering the baker money, but he paid no heed to any of them, by
reason of the dense crowd. The fisherman stood looking and snuffing the
smell of the hot bread (and indeed his soul longed for it, by reason of
his hunger), till the baker caught sight of him and cried out to him,
“Come hither, O fisherman!” So he went up to him, and the baker said,
“Dost thou want bread?” But he was silent. Quoth the baker, “Speak out
and be not ashamed, for Allah is bountiful. An thou have no silver, I
will give thee bread and have patience with thee till weal betide thee.”
And quoth the fisherman, “By Allah, O master, I have indeed no money!
But give me bread enough for my family, and I will leave thee this net
in pawn till the morrow.” Rejoined the baker, “Nay, my poor fellow, this
net is thy shop and the door of thy daily subsistence; so an thou pawn
it, wherewithal wilt thou fish? Tell me how much will suffice thee?”;
and replied the fisherman, “Ten half-dirhams’ worth.”[235] So he gave
him ten Nusfs’ worth of bread and ten in silver saying, “Take these ten
Nusfs and cook thyself a mess of meat therewith; so wilt thou owe me
twenty, for which bring me fish to-morrow; but, an thou catch nothing
again, come and take thy bread and thy ten Nusfs, and I will have
patience with thee till better luck betide thee,——And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Forty-first Night,