“That horrible black must have amassed great wealth,” remarked my brother.

“Such wealth,” returned she, “that if you succeed in carrying it all away it will make you rich for ever.  Come and let us see how much there is.”

She led Alnaschar into a chamber filled with coffers packed with gold, which he gazed at with an admiration he was powerless to conceal.  “Go,” she said, “and bring men to carry them away.”

My brother did not wait to be told twice, and hurried out into the streets, where he soon collected ten men.  They all came back to the house, but what was his surprise to find the door open, and the room with the chests of gold quite empty.  The lady had been cleverer than himself, and had made the best use of her time.  However, he tried to console himself by removing all the beautiful furniture, which more than made up for the five hundred gold pieces he had lost.

Unluckily, on leaving the house, he forgot to lock the door, and the neighbours, finding the place empty, informed the police, who next morning arrested Alnaschar as a thief.  My brother tried to bribe them to let him off, but far from listening to him they tied his hands, and forced him to walk between them to the presence of the judge.  When they had explained to the official the cause of complaint, he asked Alnaschar where he had obtained all the furniture that he had taken to his house the day before.

“Sir,” replied Alnaschar, “I am ready to tell you the whole story, but give, I pray you, your word, that I shall run no risk of punishment.”

“That I promise,” said the judge.  So my brother began at the beginning and related all his adventures, and how he had avenged himself on those who had betrayed him.  As to the furniture, he entreated the judge at least to allow him to keep part to make up for the five hundred pieces of gold which had been stolen from him.

The judge, however, would say nothing about this, and lost no time in sending men to fetch away all that Alnaschar had taken from the house.  When everything had been moved and placed under his roof he ordered my brother to leave the town and never more to enter it on peril of his life, fearing that if he returned he might seek justice from the Caliph.  Alnaschar obeyed, and was on his way to a neighbouring city when he fell in with a band of robbers, who stripped him of his clothes and left him naked by the roadside.  Hearing of his plight, I hurried after him to console him for his misfortunes, and to dress him in my best robe.  I then brought him back disguised, under cover of night, to my house, where I have since given him all the care I bestow on my other brothers.

The Story of the Barber’s Sixth Brother

There now remains for me to relate to you the story of my sixth brother, whose name was Schacabac.  Like the rest of us, he inherited a hundred silver drachmas from our father, which he thought was a large fortune, but through ill-luck, he soon lost it all, and was driven to beg.  As he had a smooth tongue and good manners, he really did very well in his new profession, and he devoted himself specially to making friends with the servants in big houses, so as to gain access to their masters.