“’Twas as a hive of bees that greatly thrived; * But, when the
     bee swarm fled, ’twas clean unhived."[FN#299]

So he gave a great cry and fell down in a fit.  When he came to himself, he left the door open and going in to King Shams al-Daulah, said to him, “O Commander of the Faithful,[FN#300] I have to inform thee that the treasury hath become empty during the night.”  Quoth the King, ’What hast thou done with my monies which were therein?” Quoth he, “By Allah, I have not done aught with them nor know I what is come of them!  I visited the place yesterday and saw it full; but to day when I went in, I found it clean empty, albeit the doors were locked, the walls were unpierced[FN#301] and the bolts[FN#302] are unbroken; nor hath a thief entered it.”  Asked the King, “Are the two pairs of saddle bags gone?” “Yes,” replied the Treasurer; whereupon the King’s reason flew from his head,—­And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

        When it was the Six Hundred and Twentieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Treasurer informed the King that all in the treasury had been plundered, including the two pairs of saddlebags, the King’s reason flew from his head and he rose to his feet, saying, “Go thou before me.”  Then he followed the Treasurer to the treasury and he found nothing there, whereat he was wroth with him; and he said to them, “O soldiers! know that my treasury hath been plundered during the night, and I know not who did this deed and dared thus to outrage me, without fear of me.”  Said they, “How so?”; and he replied, “Ask the Treasurer.”  So they questioned him, and he answered, saying, “Yesterday I visited the treasury and it was full, but this morning when I entered it I found it empty, though the walls were unpierced and the doors unbroken.”  They all marvelled at this and could make the King no answer, when in came the Janissary, who had denounced Salim and Salim, and said to Shams al-Daulah, “O King of the age, all this night I have not slept for that which I saw.”  And the King asked, “And what didst thou see?” “Know, O King of the age,” answered the Kawwas, “that all night long I have been amusing myself with watching builders at work; and, when it was day, I saw a palace ready edified, whose like is not in the world.  So I asked about it and was told that Judar had come back with great wealth and Mamelukes and slaves and that he had freed his two brothers from prison, and built this palace, wherein he is as a Sultan.”  Quoth the King, “Go, look in the prison.”  So they went thither and not finding Salim and Salim, returned and told the King, who said, “It is plain now who be the thief; he who took Salim and Salim out of prison it is who hath stolen my monies.”  Quoth the Wazir, “O my lord, and who is he?”; and quoth the King, “Their brother Judar, and he hath taken the two pairs of saddle bags; but, O Wazir do thou send him an Emir with fifty men to seal