So the husband was convinced that he had sinned against his wife’s innocence, she being clear of all offence, and the neighbours made peace between them after the divorce, and he prayed her pardon and presented her with an hundred gold pieces.  And so the wicked lover’s cunning trick came to naught.  “And know, O King, that this is an instance of the malice of men and their perfidy.”  When the King heard this, he bade his son be slain; but on the next day the second Wazir came forward for intercession and kissed ground in prostration.  Whereupon the King said, “Raise thy head:  prostration must be made to Allah only."[FN#167] So the Minister rose from before him and said, “O King, hasten not to slay thy son, for he was not granted to his mother by the Almighty but after despair, nor didst thou expect such good luck; and we hope that he will live to become a guerdon to thy reign and a guardian of thy good.  Wherefore, have patience, O King; belike he will offer a fit excuse; and, if thou make haste to slay him, thou wilt surely repent, even as the merchant-wight repented.”  Asked the King, “And how was it with the merchant, O Wazir?”; and the Wazir answered, “O King, I have heard a tale of

The Miser and the Loaves of Bread.

There was once a merchant, who was a niggard and miserly in his eating and drinking.  One day, he went on a journey to a certain town and as he walked in the market-streets, behold, he met an old trot with two scones of bread which looked sound and fair, He asked her, “Are these for sale?”; and she answered, “Yes!” So he beat her down and bought them at the lowest price and took them home to his lodging, where he ate them that day.  When morning morrowed, he returned to the same place and, finding the old woman there with other two scones, bought these also; and thus he ceased not during twenty-five days’ space when the old wife disappeared.  He made enquiry for her, but could hear no tidings of her, till, one day as he was walking about the high streets, he chanced upon her:  so he accosted her and, after the usual salutation and with much praise and politeness, asked why she had disappeared from the market and ceased to supply the two cakes of bread?  Hearing this, at first she evaded giving him a reply; but he conjured her to tell him her case; so she said, “Hear my excuse, O my lord, which is that I was attending upon a man who had a corroding ulcer on his spine, and his doctor bade us knead flour with butter into a plaster and lay it on the place of pain, where it abode all night.  In the morning, I used to take that flour and turn it into dough and make it into two scones, which I cooked and sold to thee or to another; but presently the man died and I was cut off from making cakes."[FN#168] When the merchant heard this, he repented whenas repentance availed him naught, saying, “Verily, we are Allah’s and verily unto Him we are returning!  There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Him, the Glorious, the Great!” —­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.