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and do thou go in to them. I will be there sitting amongst them, and when I see thee, I will rise to thee and salute thee and kiss thy hand and make much of thee. Whenever I ask thee of any kind of stuff, saying, “Hast thou brought with thee aught of such a kind?” do thou answer, “Abundance.” And if they question me of thee, I will praise thee and magnify thee in their eyes and say to them, “Get him a store-house and a shop.” Moreover, I will give thee out for a man of great wealth and generosity; and if a beggar come to thee, give him what thou mayst; so will they put faith in what I say and believe in thy greatness and generosity and love thee. Then will I bid thee to an entertainment and bid all the merchants on thine account and bring thee and them together, so they may all know thee and thou them Night dccccxcii.and thou shalt buy and sell and give and take with them; nor will it be long ere thou become a man of wealth.’
So on the morrow he gave him a thousand dinars and a suit of clothes and a black slave and mounting him on a mule, said to him, ‘God give thee quittance of all this:[1] for thou art my friend and it behoves me to deal generously with thee. Have no care; but put away from thee the thought of thy wife and name her not to any.’ ‘May God requite thee with good!’ answered Marouf and rode on, preceded by the black slave, till the latter brought him to the gate of the merchants’ bazaar, where they were all seated, and Ali amongst them. When the latter saw him, he rose and threw himself upon him, saying, [‘This is indeed] a blessed day, O merchant Marouf, O man of good works and kindness!’[2] And he kissed his hand before the merchants and said to them, ‘O my brothers, I commend to you the merchant Marouf.’ So they saluted him, and Ali signed to them to make much of him, wherefore he was magnified in their eyes.
