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from the carcase and threw it away, saying, ‘O morning of ill luck! What a sorry handsel is this dead dog, after I had rejoiced in its weight!’[1] Then he mended the rents in the net, saying, ‘Needs must there be fish in plenty, after this carrion, attracted by the smell,’ and made a second cast.
After awhile, he drew up and found in the net a dead camel, that had caught in the meshes and rent them right and left. When he saw his net in this plight, he wept and said, ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme! I wonder what is my offence and [the reason of] the blackness of my fortune and the scantiness of my luck, of all folk, so that I catch neither carplet nor barbel, that I may broil in the sand and eat, for all I dare say there is not a fisherman like me in the city of Baghdad.’
Then he pronounced the name of God and casting his net a third time, drew it ashore and found in it a scurvy, one-eyed, mangy, lame ape, with a rod of ivory in his hand. When he saw this, he said, ‘This is indeed a blessed handsel! What art thou, O ape?’ ‘Dost thou not know me?’ answered the ape, and Khelif said, ‘No, by Allah, I have no knowledge of thee!’ Quoth the ape, ‘I am thine ape;’ and Khelif said, ‘What use is there in thee, O my ape?’ ‘Every day,’ replied the ape, ‘I give thee good-morrow, so God the Most High may not vouchsafe thee provision.’
Quoth Khelif, thou failest not [of this], O one-eye of ill-omen! May God not bless thee! Needs must I put out thy sound eye and break thy sound leg, so thou mayst become a blind cripple and I be quit of thee. But what is the use of that rod thou hast in thy hand?’ ‘O Khelif,’ answered the ape, ‘I scare the fish therewith, so they may not enter thy net.’ ‘Is it so?’ rejoined Khelif. ‘Then
- ↑ Which led him to suppose that the net was full of fish.
