But not the less a brother of need, whom fortune vexes and wrongs,
And the father of children who lie out like meat on the tray:
Now the brother of want, who has a household, is not blamed if he be
wily.
Said the narrator: Then I knew that it was Abu Zayd, the man of
ill-fame and disgrace, he that blackens the face of his hoariness. And
the greatness of his contumacy offended me, and the foulness of the
path of his resorting: so I said to him with the tongue of indignation
and the confidence of acquaintance: "Is it not time, old man, that
thou withdraw from debauchery?" But he was angry, and growled, and his
countenance changed, and he thought a while: and then he said, "It
is a night for merriment, not for rebuke, an occasion for drinking
wine, not for contention; so leave speaking thy thought until we meet
to-morrow." Then I left him, through fear of his drunken humor, not
through dependence on his promise; and I passed my night clothed in the
mourning of repentance, at having advanced the steps of my foot to the
daughter of the vine, not of grace. And I made a vow to God Almighty
that I would never again enter the tavern of a liquor-seller, even
that I might be endowed with the dominion of Bagdad; and that I would
not look upon the vats of wine, even that the season of youth might be
restored to me. Then we saddled the white camels in the last darkness
of night, and left together Abu Zayd and Iblis.