And he soothed and comforted her till she consented and took up her dwelling with him.  Then he get him a net and went a fishing every day in the river or the banks about Bulak and old Cairo or some other place in which there was water; and one day he would earn ten coppers,[FN#260] another twenty and another thirty, which he spent upon his mother and himself, and they ate well and drank well.  But, as for his brothers, they plied no craft and neither sold nor bought; misery and ruin and overwhelming calamity entered their houses and they wasted that which they had taken from their mother and became of the wretched naked beggars.  So at times they would come to their mother, humbling themselves before her exceedingly and complaining to her of hunger; and she (a mother’s heart being pitiful) would give them some mouldy, sour smelling bread or, if there were any meat cooked the day before, she would say to them, “Eat it quick and go ere your brother come; for ’twould be grievous to him and he would harden his heart against me, and ye would disgrace me with him.”  So they would eat in haste and go.  One day among days they came in to their mother, and she set cooked meat and bread before them.  As they were eating, behold, in came their brother Judar, at whose sight the parent was put to shame and confusion, fearing lest he should be wroth with her; and she bowed her face earthwards abashed before her son.  But he smiled in their faces, saying, “Welcome, O my brothers!  A blessed day![FN#261] How comes it that ye visit me this blessed day?” Then he embraced them both and entreated them lovingly, saying to them, “I thought not that ye would have left me desolate by your absence nor that ye would have forborne to come and visit me and your mother.”  Said they, “By Allah, O our brother, we longed sore for thee and naught withheld us but abashment because of what befell between us and thee; but indeed we have repented much.  ’Twas Satan’s doing, the curse of Allah the Most High be upon him!  And now we have no blessing but thyself and our mother.”—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

         When it was the Six Hundred and Eighth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Judar entered his place and saw his brothers, he welcomed them both, saying, “And I have no blessing but you twain.”  And his mother exclaimed, “Allah whiten thy face, and increase thy prosperity, for thou art the most generous of us all, O my son!” Then he said “Welcome to you both!  Abide with me; for the Lord is bountiful and good aboundeth with me.”  So he made peace with them, and they supped and righted with him; and next morning, after they had broken their fast, Judar shouldered his net and went out, trusting in The Opener[FN#262] whilst the two others also went forth and were absent till midday, when they returned and their mother set the noon meal before them.  At nightfall Judar came home, bearing meat and greens,