Book: Supplemental Nights, Volume 1

R >> Richard F. Burton >> Supplemental Nights, Volume 1




The Eighteenth Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the King summoned the Wazir and required
of him the story; so he said, "'Tis well. Hear O King,




The Tale of the Devotee Accused of Lewdness.[FN#415]



There was once a man of Nishabur[FN#416] who, having a wife of
the uttermost beauty and piety, yet was minded to set out on the
pilgrimage. So before leaving home he commended her to the care
of his brother and besought him to aid her in her affairs and
further her wishes till he should return, for the brothers were
on the most intimate terms.[FN#417] Then he took ship and
departed and his absence was prolonged. Meanwhile, the brother
went to visit his brother's wife, at all times and seasons, and
questioned her of her circumstances and went about her wants; and
when his calls were prolonged and he heard her speech and saw her
face, the love of her gat hold upon his heart and he became
passionately fond of her and his soul prompted him to evil. So he
besought her to lie with him, but she refused and showed him how
foul was his deed, and he found him no way to win what he
wished;[FN#418] wherefore he wooed her with soft speech and
gentle ways. Now she was righteous in all her doings and never
swerved from one saying;[FN#419] so, when he saw that she
consented not to him, he had no doubts but that she would tell
his brother, when he returned from his journey, and quoth he to
her, "An thou consent not to whatso I require of thee, I will
cause a scandal to befal thee and thou wilt perish." Quoth she,
"Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) judge betwixt me and thee,
and know that, shouldst thou hew me limb from limb, I would not
consent to that thou biddest me to do." His ignorance[FN#420] of
womankind persuaded him that she would tell her spouse; so he
betook himself of his exceeding despite, to a company of people
in the mosque and informed them that he had witnessed a man
commit adultery with his brother's wife. They believed his word
and documented his charge and assembled to stone her.[FN#421]
Then they dug her a pit outside the city and seating her therein,
stoned her, till they deemed her dead, when they left her.
Presently a Shaykh of a village passed by the pit and finding her
alive, carried her to his house and cured her of her wounds. Now
he had a youthful son, who, as soon as he saw her, loved her and
besought her of her person; but she refused and consented not to
him, whereupon he redoubled in love and longing and his case
prompted him to suborn a youth of the people of his village and
agree with him that he should come by night and take somewhat
from his father's house and that, when he was seized and
discovered, he should say that she was his accomplice in this and
avouch that she was his mistress and had been stoned on his
account in the city. Accordingly he did this, and, coming by
night to the villager's house, stole therefrom goods and clothes;
whereupon the owner awoke and seizing the thief, pinioned him
straitly and beat him to make him confess; and he confessed
against the woman that she was a partner in the crime and that he
was her lover from the city. The news was bruited abroad and the
citizens assembled to put her to death; but the Shaykh with whom
she was forbade them and said, "I brought this woman hither,
coveting the recompense of Allah, and I know not the truth of
that which is said of her and will not empower any to hurt or
harm her." Then he gave her a thousand dirhams, by way of alms,
and thrust her forth of the village. As for the thief, he was
imprisoned for some days; after which the folk interceded for him
with the old man, saying, "This is a youth and indeed he erred;"
and he released him from his bonds. Meanwhile the woman went out
at hap-hazard and donning a devotee's dress, fared on without
ceasing, till she came to a city and found the king's deputies
dunning the townsfolk for the tribute, out of season. Presently,
she saw a man, whom they were pressing for the tribute; so she
asked of his case and being acquainted with it, paid down the
thousand dirhams for him and delivered him from the bastinado;
whereupon he thanked her and those who were present. When he was
set free, he walked with her and besought her to go with him to
his dwelling: accordingly, she accompanied him thither and supped
with him and passed the night. When the dark hours gloomed on
him, his soul prompted him to evil, for that which he saw of her
beauty and loveliness, and he lusted after her, and required her
of her person; but she rejected him and threatened him with Allah
the Most High and reminded him of that which she had done with
him of kindness and how she had delivered him from the stick and
its disgrace. However, he would not be denied, and when he saw
her persistent refusal of herself to him, he feared lest she
should tell the folk of him. So, when he arose in the morning, he
wrote on a paper what he would of forgery and falsehood and going
up to the Sultan's palace, said, "I have an advisement for the
King." So he bade admit him and he delivered him the writ he had
forged, saying, "I found this letter with the woman, the devotee,
the ascetic, and indeed she is a spy, a secret informer against
the sovran to his foe; and I deem the King's due more incumbent
on me than any other claim and warning him to be the first duty,
for that he uniteth in himself all the subjects, and but for the
King's existence, the lieges would perish; wherefore I have
brought thee good counsel." The King gave credit to his words and
sent with him those who should lay hands upon the Devotee and do
her to death; but they found her not. As for the woman, when the
man went out from her, she resolved to depart; so she fared
forth, saying to herself, "There is no wayfaring for me in
woman's habit." Then she donned men's dress, such as is worn of
the pious, and set out and wandered over the earth; nor did she
cease wandering till she entered a certain city. Now the king of
that city had an only daughter, in whom he gloried and whom he
loved, and she saw the Devotee and deeming her a pilgrim youth,
said to her father, "I would fain have this youth take up his
lodging with me, so I may learn of him lere and piety and
religion." Her father rejoiced in this and commanded the pilgrim
to take up his abode with his daughter in his palace. So they
were in one place and the Princess was strenuous to the uttermost
in continence and chastity and nobility of mind and magnanimity
and devotion; but the ignorant tattled anent her and the folk of
the realm said, "The king's daughter loveth the pilgrim youth and
he loveth her." Now the king was a very old man and destiny
decreed the ending of his life-term; so he died and when he was
buried, the lieges assembled and many were the sayings of the
people and of the king's kinsfolk and officers, and they
counselled together to slay the Princess and the young pilgrim,
saying, "This fellow dishonoureth us with yonder whore and none
accepteth shame save the base." So they fell upon them and slew
the king's daughter in her mosque, without asking her of aught;
whereupon the pious woman (whom they deemed a youth) said to
them, "Woe to you, O miscreants! Ye have slain the pious lady."
Quoth they, "O thou fulsome fellow, dost thou bespeak us thus?
Thou lovedst her and she loved thee, and we will assuredly slay
thee." And quoth she, "Allah forfend. Indeed, the affair is the
clear reverse of this." They asked, "What proof hast thou of
that?" and she answered, "Bring me women." They did so, and when
the matrons looked on her, they found her a woman. As soon as the
townsfolk saw this, they repented of that they had done and the
affair was grievous to them; so they sought pardon of Allah and
said to her, "By the virtue of Him whom thou servest, do thou
crave pardon for us." Said she, "As for me, I may no longer tarry
with you and I am about to depart from you." Then they humbled
themselves before her and shed tears and said to her, "We conjure
thee, by the might of Allah the Most High, that thou take upon
thyself the rule of the realm and of the lieges." But she refused
and drew her back; whereupon they came up to her and wept and
ceased not supplicating her, till she consented and undertook the
kingship. Her first commandment to them was that they bury the
Princess and build over her a dome and she abode in that palace,
worshipping the Almighty and dealing judgment between the people
with justice, and Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) vouchsafed
her, for the excellence of her piety and her patience and
renunciation, the acceptance of her prayers, so that she sought
not aught of Him (to whom belong Might and Majesty), but He
granted her petition; and her fame was bruited abroad in all
lands. Accordingly, the folk resorted to her from all parts and
she used to pray Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty) for the
oppressed and the Lord granted him relief, and against his
oppressor, and He brake him asunder; and she prayed for the sick
and they were made sound; and in this goodly way she tarried a
great space of time. So fared it with the wife; but as for her
husband, when he returned from the pilgrimage, his brother and
the neighbours acquainted him with the affair of his spouse,
whereat he was sore concerned and suspected their story, for that
which he knew of her chastity and prayerfulness; and he shed
tears for the loss of her. Meanwhile, she prayed to Almighty
Allah that He would stablish her innocence in the eyes of her
spouse and the folk, and He sent down upon her husband's brother
a sickness so sore that none knew a cure for him. Wherefore he
said to his brother, "In such a city is a Devotee, a worshipful
woman and a recluse whose prayers are accepted; so do thou carry
me to her, that she may pray for my healing and Allah (to whom
belong Might and Majesty) may give me ease of this disease."
Accordingly, he took him up and journeyed with him, till they
came to the village where dwelt the Shaykh, the grey-beard who
had rescued the devout woman from the pit and carried her to his
dwelling and healed her in his home. Here they halted and lodged
with the old man, who questioned the husband of his case and that
of his brother and the cause of their journey, and he said, "I
purpose to go with my brother, this sick wight, to the holy
woman, her whose petitions are answered, so she may pray for him,
and Allah may heal him by the blessing of her orisons." Quoth the
villager, "By Allah, my son is in parlous plight for sickness and
we have heard that this Devotee prayeth for the sick and they are
made sound. Indeed, the folk counsel me to carry him to her, and
behold,[FN#422] I will go in company with you." And they said,
"'Tis well." So they all nighted in that intent and on the morrow
they set out for the dwelling of the Devotee, this one carrying
his son and that one bearing his brother. Now the man who had
stolen the clothes and had forged against the pious woman a lie,
to wit, that he was her lover, sickened of a sore sickness, and
his people took him up and set out with him to visit the Devotee
and crave her prayers, and Destiny brought them altogether by the
way. So they fared forward in a body till they came to the city
wherein the man dwelt for whom she had paid the thousand dirhams
to deliver him from torture, and found him about to travel to her
by reason of a malady which had betided him. Accordingly, they
all journeyed on together, unknowing that the holy woman was she
whom they had so foully wronged, and ceased not going till they
came to her city and foregathered at the gates of her palace,
that wherein was the tomb of the Princess. Now the folk used to
go in to her and salute her with the salam, and crave her
orisons; and it was her custom to pray for none till he had
confessed to her his sins, when she would ask pardon for him and
pray for him that he might be healed, and he was straightway made
whole of sickness, by permission of Almighty Allah. When the four
sick men were brought in to her, she knew them forthright, though
they knew her not, and said to them "Let each of you confess and
specify his sins, so I may sue pardon for him and pray for him."
And the brother said, "As for me, I required my brother's wife of
her person and she refused; whereupon despite and ignorance
prompted me and I lied against her and accused her to the
townsfolk of adultery; so they stoned her and slew her wrongously
and unrighteously; and this my complaint is the issue of unright
and falsehood and of the slaying of the innocent soul, whose
slaughter Allah hath made unlawful to man." Then said the youth,
the old villager's son, "And I, O holy woman, my father brought
to us a woman who had been stoned, and my people nursed her till
she recovered. Now she was rare of beauty and loveliness; so I
required of her her person; but she refused and clave in chastity
to Allah (to whom belong Might and Majesty), wherefore ignorance
prompted me, so that I agreed with one of the youths that he
should steal clothes and coin from my father's house. Then I laid
hands on him and carried him to my sire and made him confess. He
declared that the woman was his mistress from the city and had
been stoned on his account and that she was his accomplice in the
theft and had opened the doors to him; but this was a lie against
her, for that she had not yielded to me in that which I sought of
her. So there befel me what ye see of requital." And the young
man, the thief, said, "I am he with whom thou agreedst concerning
the theft, and to whom thou openedst the door, and I am he who
accused her falsely and calumniously and Allah (extolled be He!)
well knoweth that I never did evil with her; no, nor knew her in
any way before that time." Then said he whom she had delivered
from torture by paying down a thousand dirhams and who had
required of her her person in his house, for that her beauty
pleased him, and when she refused had forged a letter against her
and treacherously denounced her to the Sultan and requited her
graciousness with ingratitude, "I am he who wronged her and lied
against her, and this is the issue of the oppressor's affair."
When she heard their words, in the presence of the folk, she
cried, "Alhamdolillah, praise be to Allah, the King who over all
things is omnipotent, and blessing upon His prophets and
apostles!" Then quoth she to the assembly, "Bear testimony, O ye
here present, to these men's speech, and know ye I am that woman
whom they confess to having wronged." And she turned to her
husband's brother and said to him, "I am thy brother's wife and
Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) delivered me from that
whereinto thou castedst me of calumny and suspicion, and from the
folly and frowardness whereof thou hast spoken, and now hath He
shown forth my innocence, of His bounty and generosity. Go, for
thou art quit of the wrong thou didst me." Then she prayed for
him and he was made sound of his sickness. Thereupon she said to
the son of the village Shaykh, "Know that I am the woman whom thy
father delivered from strain and stress and whom there betided
from thee of calumny and ignorance that which thou hast named."
And she sued pardon for him and he was made sound of his
sickness. Then said she to the thief, "I am the woman against
whom thou liedst, avouching that I was thy leman who had been
stoned on thine account, and that I was thine accomplice in
robbing the house of the village Shaykh and had opened the doors
to thee." And she prayed for him and he was made whole of his
malady.[FN#423] Then said she to the townsman, him of the
tribute, "I am the woman who gave thee the thousand dirhams and
thou didst with me what thou didst." And she asked pardon for him
and prayed for him and he was made whole; whereupon the folk
marvelled at her enemies who had all been afflicted alike, so
Allah (extolled and exalted be He!) might show forth her
innocence upon the heads of witnesses.[FN#424] Then she turned to
the old man who had delivered her from the pit and prayed for him
and gave him presents manifold and among them a myriad, a
Badrah;[FN#425] and the sick made whole departed from her. When
she was alone with her husband, she made him draw near unto her
and rejoiced in his arrival, and gave him the choice of abiding
with her. Presently, she assembled the citizens and notified to
them his virtue and worth and counselled them to invest him with
management of their rule and besought them to make him king over
them. They consented to her on this and he became king and made
his home amongst them, whilst she gave herself up to her orisons
and cohabited with her husband as she was with him aforetime.
"Nor," continued the Wazir, "is this tale, O king of the time,
stranger or pleasanter than that of the Hireling and the Girl
whose maw he slit and fled." When King Shah Bakht heard this, he
said, "Most like all they say of the Minister is leasing, and his
innocence will be made manifest even as that of the Devotee was
manifested." Then he comforted the Wazir's heart and bade him hie
to his house.

The Nineteenth Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the King bade fetch the Wazir and sought
of him the story of the Hireling and the Girl. So he said,
"Hearkening and obedience. Give ear, O auspicious King, to




The Tale of the Hireling and the Girl.



There was once, of old time, in one of the tribes of the Arabs, a
woman pregnant by her husband, and they had a hired servant, a
man of insight and understanding. When the woman came to her
delivery-time, she gave birth to a girl-child in the night and
they sought fire of the neighbours.[FN#426] So the Hireling went
in quest of fire. Now there was in the camp a Divineress,[FN#427]
and she questioned him of the new-born child, an it was male or
female. Quoth he, "'Tis a girl;" and quoth she, "That girl will
whore with an hundred men and a hireling shall wed her and a
spider shall slay her." When the hired man heard this, he
returned upon his steps and going in to the woman, took the child
from her by wily management and slit its maw: then he fled forth
into the wold at hap-hazard and abode in strangerhood while Allah
so willed.[FN#428] He gained much money; and, returning to his
own land, after twenty years' absence, alighted in the
neighbourhood of an old woman, whom he wheedled and treated with
liberality, requiring of her a young person whom he might enjoy
without marriage. Said she, "I know none but a certain fair
woman, who is renowned for this industry." Then she described her
charms to him and made him lust after her, and he said, "Hasten
to her this minute and lavish upon her whatso she asketh." So the
crone betook herself to the girl and discovered his wishes to her
and invited her to him; but she answered, "'Tis true that I was
in the habit of whoredom, but now I have repented to Almighty
Allah and have no more longing to this: nay, I desire lawful
wedlock; so, if he be content with that which is legal, I am
between his hands."[FN#429] The old woman returned to the man and
told him what the damsel said; and he lusted after her, because
of her beauty and her penitence; so he took her to wife, and when
he went in to her, he loved her and after like fashion she loved
him. Thus they abode a great while, till one day he questioned
her of the cause of a scar[FN#430] he espied on her body, and she
said, "I wot naught thereof save that my mother told me a
marvellous thing concerning it." Asked he, "What was that?" and
she answered, "My mother declared that she gave birth to me one
night of the wintry nights and despatched a hired man, who was
with us, in quest of fire for her. He was absent a little while
and presently returning, took me and slit my maw and fled. When
my mother saw this, chagrin seized her and compassion possessed
her; so she sewed up my stomach and nursed me till the wound
healed by the ordinance of Allah (to whom belong Might and
Majesty)." When her husband heard this, he said to her, "What is
thy name and what may be the name of thy mother and who may be
thy father?" She told him their names and her own, whereby he
knew that it was she whose maw he had slit and said to her, "And
where are thy father and mother?" "They are both dead." "I am
that Hireling who slit thy stomach." "Why didst thou that?"
"Because of a saying I heard from the wise woman." "What was it?"
"She declared thou wouldst play the whore with an hundred men and
that I after that should wed thee." "Ay, I have whored with an
hundred men, no more and no less, and behold, thou hast married
me." "The Divineress also foresaid that thou shouldst die, at the
last of thy life, of the bite of a spider. Indeed, her saying
hath been verified of the fornication and the marriage, and I
fear lest her word come true no less in the death." Then they
betook themselves to a place without the city, where he builded
him a mansion of solid stone and white stucco and stopped its
inner walls and plastered them; leaving not therein or cranny or
crevice, and he set in it two slavegirls whose services were
sweeping and wiping, for fear of spiders. Here he abode with his
wife a great while, till one day the man espied a spider on the
ceiling and beat it down. When his wife saw it, she said, "This
is that which the wise woman foresaid would slay me; so, by thy
life, suffer me to kill it with mine own hand." Her husband
forbade her from this, but she conjured him to let her destroy
the spider; then, of her fearfulness and her eagerness, she took
a piece of wood and smote it. The wood brake of the force of the
blow, and a splinter from it entered her hand and wrought upon
it, so that it swelled. Then her fore-arm also swelled and the
swelling spread to her side and thence grew till it reached her
heart and she died. "Nor" (continued the Wazir), "is this
stranger or more wondrous than the story of the Weaver who became
a Leach by commandment of his wife." When the King heard this,
his admiration redoubled and he said, "In very truth, Destiny is
written to all creatures, and I will not accept aught that is
said against my Minister the loyal counsellor." And he bade him
hie to his home.

The Twentieth Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the King bade summon his Minister and he
presented himself before him, whereupon he required of him the
hearing of the story. So the Wazir said, "Hearkening and
obedience. Give ear, O King, to




The Tale of the Weaver who Became a Leach by Order of his
Wife.



There was once, in the land of Fars,[FN#431] a man who wedded a
woman higher than himself in rank and nobler of lineage, but she
had no guardian to preserve her from want. She loathed to marry
one who was beneath her; yet she wived with him because of need,
and took of him a bond in writing to the effect that he would
ever be under her order to bid and forbid and would never thwart
her in word or in deed. Now the man was a Weaver and he bound
himself in writing to pay his wife ten thousand dirhams in case
of default. Atfer such fashion they abode a long while till one
day the wife went out to fetch water, of which she had need, and
saw a leach who had spread a carpet hard by the road, whereon he
had set out great store of simples[FN#432] and implements of
medicine and he was speaking and muttering charms, whilst the
folk flocked to him from all quarters and girt him about on every
side. The Weaver's wife marvelled at the largeness of the
physician's fortune[FN#433] and said in herself, "Were my husband
thus, he would lead an easy life and that wherein we are of
straitness and poverty would be widened to him." Then she
returned home, cark-full and care-full, and when her husband saw
her in this condition, he questioned her of her case and she said
to him, "Verily, my breast is harrowed by reason of thee and of
the very goodness of thine intent," presently adding, "Narrow
means suit me not and thou in thy present craft gainest naught;
so either do thou seek out a business other than this or pay me
my rightful due[FN#434] and let me wend my ways." Her husband
chid her for this and advised her to take patience; but she would
not be turned from her design and said to him, "Go forth and
watch yonder physician how he doth and learn from him what he
saith." Said he, "Let not thy heart be troubled," and added, "I
will go every day to the session of the leach." So he began
resorting daily to the physician and committing to memory his
answers and that which he spoke of jargon,[FN#435] till he had
gotten a great matter by rote, and all this he learned and
thoroughly digested it. Then he returned to his wife and said to
her, "I have stored up the physician's sayings in memory and have
mastered his manner of muttering and diagnoses and prescribing
remedies and I wot by heart the names of the medicines[FN#436]
and of all the diseases, and there abideth of thy bidding naught
undone: so what dost thou command me now to do?" Quoth she,
"Leave the loom and open thyself a leach's shop;" but quoth he,
"My fellow-townsmen know me and this affair will not profit me,
save in a land of strangerhood; so come, let us go out from this
city and get us to a foreign land and there live." And she said,
"Do whatso thou willest." Accordingly, he arose and taking his
weaving gear, sold it and bought with the price drugs and simples
and wrought himself a carpet, with which they set out and
journeyed to a certain village, where they took up their abode.
Then the man fell to going round about the hamlets and villages
and outskirts of towns, after donning leach's dress; and he began
to earn his livelihood and make much gain. Their affairs
prospered and their circumstances were bettered; wherefore they
praised Allah for their present ease and the village became to
them a home. In this way he lived for a long time, but at length
he wandered anew,[FN#437] and the days and the nights ceased not
to transport him from country to country, till he came to the
land of the Roum and lighted down in a city of the cities
thereof, wherein was Jalinus[FN#438] the Sage; but the Weaver
knew him not, nor was aware who he was. So he fared forth, as was
his wont, in quest of a place where the folk might be gathered
together, and hired the courtyard[FN#439] of Jalinus. There he
spread his carpet and setting out on it his simples and
instruments of medicine, praised himself and his skill and
claimed a cleverness such as none but he might claim.[FN#440]
Jalinus heard that which he affirmed of his understanding and it
was certified unto him and established in his mind that the man
was a skilled leach of the leaches of the Persians and he said in
himself, "Unless he had confidence in his knowledge and were
minded to confront me and contend with me, he had not sought the
door of my house neither had he spoken that which he hath
spoken." And care and doubt gat hold upon Jalinus: so he drew
near the Weaver and addressed himself to see how his doings
should end, whilst the folk began to flock to him and describe to
him their ailments,[FN#441] and he would answer them thereof,
hitting the mark one while and missing it another while, so that
naught appeared to Jalinus of his fashion whereby his mind might
be assured that he had justly estimated his skill. Presently, up
came a woman with a urinal,[FN#442] and when the Weaver saw the
phial afar off, he said to her, "This is the water of a man, a
stranger." Said she, "Yes;" and he continued, "Is he not a Jew
and is not his ailment flatulence?" "Yes," replied the woman, and
the folk marvelled at this; wherefore the man was magnified in
the eyes of Jalinus, for that he heard speech such as was not of
the usage of doctors, seeing that they know not urine but by
shaking it and looking straitly thereon, neither wot they a man's
water from a woman's water, nor a stranger's from a countryman's,
nor a Jew's from a Sharif's.[FN#443] Then the woman asked, "What
is the remedy?" and the Weaver answered, "Bring the
honorarium."[FN#444] So she paid him a dirham and he gave her
medicines contrary to that ailment and such as would only
aggravate the complaint. When Jalinus saw what appeared to him of
the man's incapacity, he turned to his disciples and pupils and
bade them fetch the mock doctor, with all his gear and drugs.
Accordingly they brought him into his presence without stay or
delay, and when Jalinus saw him before him, he asked him,
"Knowest thou me?" and the other answered, "No, nor did I ever
set eyes on thee before this day." Quoth the Sage, "Dost thou
know Jalinus?" and quoth the Weaver, "No." Then said Jalinus,
"What drave thee to do that which thou dost?" So he acquainted
him with his adventure, especially with the dowry and the
obligation by which he was bound with regard to his wife whereat
the Sage marvelled and certified himself anent the matter of the
marriage-settlement. Then he bade lodge him near himself and
entreated him with kindness and took him apart and said to him,
"Expound to me the story of the urine-phial and whence thou
knewest that the water therein was that of a man, and he a
stranger and a Jew, and that his ailment was flatulence?" The
Weaver replied, "'Tis well. Thou must know that we people of
Persia are skilled in physiognomy,[FN#445] and I saw the woman to
be rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed and tall-statured. Now these qualities
belong to women who are enamoured of a man and are distracted for
love of him;[FN#446] moreover, I saw her burning with anxiety; so
I knew that the patient was her husband.[FN#447] As for his
strangerhood, I noted that the dress of the woman differed from
that of the townsfolk, wherefore I knew that she was a foreigner;
and in the mouth of the phial I saw a yellow rag,[FN#448] which
garred me wot that the sick man was a Jew and she a Jewess.
Moreover, she came to me on first day;[FN#449] and 'tis the Jews'
custom to take meat puddings[FN#450] and food that hath passed
the night[FN#451] and eat them on the Saturday their Sabbath, hot
and cold, and they exceed in eating; wherefore flatulence and
indigestion betide them. Thus I was directed and guessed that
which thou hast heard." Now when Jalinus heard this, he ordered
the Weaver the amount of his wife's dowry and bade him pay it to
her and said to him, "Divorce her." Furthermore, he forbade him
from returning to the practice of physic and warned him never
again to take to wife a woman of rank higher than his own; and he
gave him his spending money and charged him return to his proper
craft. "Nor" (continued the Wazir), "is this tale stranger or
rarer than the story of the Two Sharpers who each cozened his
Compeer." When King Shah Bakht heard this, he said to himself,
"How like is this story to my present case with this Minister,
who hath not his like!" Then he bade him hie to his own house and
come again at eventide.

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