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And he gave a great cry and fell down in a swoon. When he came to himself, he left the door open and going in to the king, said to him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, I have to tell thee that the treasury hath become empty during the night.’ Quoth the king, ‘What hast thou done with my treasures that were therein?’ ‘By Allah,’ replied the treasurer, ‘I have not done aught with them nor know I what is come of them! I visited the place yesterday and saw it full; but, when I went in to day, I found it altogether empty, albeit the doors were locked and [the walls] unpierced and the locks unbroken, nor hath a thief entered it.’ ‘Are the two pairs of saddle-bags gone?’ asked the king. ‘Yes,’ replied the treasurer; Night dcxx.whereupon the king’s reason fled from his head and he rose to his feet, saying, ‘Go thou before me.’ So the treasurer forewent him to the treasury and he found nothing there, whereat he was sore enraged and said, ‘Who hath dared to violate my treasury, fearing not my wrath?’
Then he went forth and held a Divan, to which he summoned all his chief officers, who came, thinking each that the king was wroth with him; and he said to them, ‘Know that my treasury hath been plundered during the night, and I know not who has done this thing and dared thus to outrage me, without fear of my wrath.’ ‘How so?’ asked they. Quoth he, ‘Ask the treasurer.’ So they asked him, and he replied, saying, ‘I visited the treasury yesterday and it was full, but when I entered it this morning, I found it empty, though the doors were unpierced and the locks unbroken.’ They all marvelled at this and could make the king no answer, when in came the sergeant, who had denounced Salim and Selim, and said to Shems ed Dauleh, ‘O King of the age, all this night I have not slept for that which I saw.’ And the king said, ‘And what didst thou see?’ ‘Know, O King of the age,’ answered the
