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me what thou wilt and it shall be given thee.’ And he answered, saying, ‘I ask of thee to send me back to my own country, for I care no longer to abide here.’ Then the king offered to make him his vizier; but he consented not; so he gave him great store of gifts, over and above that which he had bestowed on him aforetime; and amongst the rest a galleon laden with goods; and the crew of this galleon were slaves; so he gave him these also. Then he took leave of the king and set sail; nor did he cast anchor till he reached Alexandria and made fast to the shore there. Then they landed and one of his servants, seeing a sack on the beach, said to Abousir, ‘O my lord, there is a great heavy sack on the sea-shore, with the mouth tied up and I know not what therein.’ So Abousir came up and opening the sack, found therein the dead body of Aboukir, which the sea had borne thither. He took it forth and burying it near Alexandria, built over the grave a place of visitation and endowed it for pious uses, writing over the door the following verses:
A man is by his actions known among his fellows aye: The actions of the freeborn man his generous birth betray.
Backbite not any, lest thyself backbitten be in turn. Whoso saith aught, his fellow-men the like of him will say.
Abstain from lewd and ribald words: I rede thee speak them not At any time, or if it be in earnest or in play.
The dog, good manners if he use, is suffered in the house; The lion, of his ignorance, is fettered night and day.
The carrion of the waste floats up upon the topmost sea, Whilst on the lowest of its sands the pearls neglected stay.
But for its feather-headedness and levity of wit, The sparrow never with the hawk to jostle would essay.
Lo, on the pages of the air is written, in the sky, ‘Whoso doth good, the like thereof his actions shall repay.’
Beware of gathering sugar, then, from out the colocynth: Still in the tasting will the thing its origin bewray.
After this Abousir abode awhile, till God took him to
