Our author, as we have seen, enlivens his moral discourses occasionally with humorous stories, and one or two more of these may fittingly close the present section:  One of the slaves of Amrulais having run away, a person was sent in pursuit of him and brought him back.  The vazir, being inimical to him, commanded him to be put to death in order to deter other slaves from committing the like offence.  The slave prostrated himself before Amrulais and said:  “Whatever may happen to me with your approbation is lawful—­what plea can the slave offer against the sentence of his lord?  But, seeing that I have been brought up under the bounties of your house, I do not wish that at the resurrection you shall be charged with my blood.  If you are resolved to kill your slave, do so comformably to the interpretation of the law, in order that at the resurrection you may not suffer reproach.”  The king asked:  “After what manner shall I expound it?” The slave replied:  “Give me leave to kill the vazir, and then, in retaliation for him, order me to be put to death, that you may kill me justly.”  The king laughed, and asked the vazir what was his advice in this matter.  Quoth the vazir:  “O my lord, as an offering to the tomb of your father, liberate this rogue, in order that I may not also fall into this calamity.  The crime is on my side, for not having observed the words of the sages, who say, ’When you combat with one who flings clods of earth, you break your own head by your folly:  when you shoot at the face of your enemy, be careful that you sit out of his aim.’”—­And not a little wit, too, did the kazi exhibit when detected by the king in an intrigue with a farrier’s daughter, and his Majesty gave order that he should be flung from the top of the castle, “as an example for others”; to which the kazi replied:  “O monarch of the universe, I have been fostered in your family, and am not singular in the commission of such crimes; therefore, I ask you to precipitate some one else, in order that I may benefit by the example.”  The king laughed at his wit, and spared his life.—­Nor is this tale without a spice of humour:  An astrologer entered his house and finding a stranger in company with his wife abused him, and called him such opprobrious names that a quarrel and strife ensued.  A shrewd man, being informed of this, said to the astrologer:  “What do you know of the heavenly bodies, when you cannot tell what goes on in your own house?"[10]—­Last, and perhaps best of all, is this one:  I was hesitating about concluding a bargain for a house, when a Jew said:  “I am an old householder in that quarter; inquire of me the description of the house, and buy it, for it has no fault.”  I replied:  “Excepting that you are one of the neighbours!”