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for the eunuch Sendel; whereupon the slaves will direct thee to me and thou shalt get what falleth to thy lot and go thy ways therewith.’ Quoth Khelifeh, ‘Indeed, this is a blessed day and its blessedness was manifest from the first of it!’
Then he shouldered his net and returned to Baghdad; and as he passed through the streets, the people saw the Khalif’s gown on him and stared at him; [but he paid no heed to them and fared on] till he came to the gate of his quarter, by which was the shop of the Khalif’s tailor. When the latter saw him wearing a dress of the apparel of the Khalif, worth a thousand dinars, he said to him, ‘O Khelifeh, whence hadst thou that gown?’ ‘What ails thee to meddle?’ replied the fisherman. ‘[An thou must know,] I had it of one whom I taught to fish and who is become my apprentice. Moreover, I forgave him the cutting-off of his hand,[1] for that he stole my clothes and gave me this clout in their place.’ So the tailor knew that the Khalif had come upon him, as he was fishing, and jested with him and given him the gown; Night dcccxxxix.and Khelifeh went to his house.
Meanwhile, when the lady Zubeideh heard of the Khalif’s devotion to Cout el Culoub, there took hold upon her the jealousy proper to women, so that she refused meat and drink and forswore the delight of sleep and awaited the Khalif’s going forth on a journey or what not, that she might set a snare for the damsel in his absence. So, when she learnt that he was gone a-hunting, she caused her women furnish the palace and decorate it after the most magnificent manner and serve up viands and confections; and amongst the rest she made a china dish of the daintiest sweetmeats, in which she had put henbane.
- ↑ The punishment decreed by Muslim law against him who steals more than the value of a quarter dinar.
