311
‘Throw him down.’ So they threw him down and Aboukir rose and taking a stick, dealt him a hundred blows on the back; after which they turned him over and he dealt him other hundred on his belly. Then he said to him, ‘Hark ye, scurril knave that thou art! If ever again I see thee standing at the door of this dyery, I will forthwith send thee to the king, and he will commit thee to the master of police, that he may strike off thy head. Begone, may God not bless thee!’
So Abousir [arose and] departed from him, broken-hearted by reason of the beating and humiliation that had betided him; whilst the bystanders said to Aboukir, ‘What hath this man done?’ Quoth he, ‘He is a thief, who steals the people’s goods: Night dccccxxxv.he hath robbed me of stuffs, how many a time! and I still said in myself, “God forgive him! He is a poor man,” and cared not to deal harshly with him; so I used to give the folk the worth of their goods and forbid him gently; but he would not be forbidden; and if he come again, I will send him to the king, who will put him to death and rid the folk of his mischief.’ And the bystanders fell to reviling the barber in his absence.
Meanwhile, the latter returned to the khan, where he sat pondering that which Aboukir had done with him, till the pain of the beating subsided, when he went out and walked about the markets of the city. Presently, he bethought him to go to the bath; so he said to one of the townsfolk, ‘O my brother, which is the way to the bath?’ ‘And what manner of thing is the bath?’ asked the other. Quoth Abousir, ‘It is a place where people wash themselves and do away their defilements, and it is of the best of the good things of the world.’ ‘Get thee to the sea,’ replied the townsman; but the barber replied, ‘I want the bath.’ Quoth the other, ‘We know not what manner of thing is the bath, for we all resort to the sea;
