to him of the man’s incapacity, he turned to his disciples and pupils and bade them fetch the mock doctor, with all his gear and drugs.  Accordingly they brought him into his presence without stay or delay, and when Jalinus saw him before him, he asked him, “Knowest thou me?” and the other answered, “No, nor did I ever set eyes on thee before this day.”  Quoth the Sage, “Dost thou know Jalinus?” and quoth the Weaver, “No.”  Then said Jalinus, “What drave thee to do that which thou dost?” So he acquainted him with his adventure, especially with the dowry and the obligation by which he was bound with regard to his wife whereat the Sage marvelled and certified himself anent the matter of the marriage-settlement.  Then he bade lodge him near himself and entreated him with kindness and took him apart and said to him, “Expound to me the story of the urine-phial and whence thou knewest that the water therein was that of a man, and he a stranger and a Jew, and that his ailment was flatulence?” The Weaver replied, “’Tis well.  Thou must know that we people of Persia are skilled in physiognomy,[FN#445] and I saw the woman to be rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed and tall-statured.  Now these qualities belong to women who are enamoured of a man and are distracted for love of him;[FN#446] moreover, I saw her burning with anxiety; so I knew that the patient was her husband.[FN#447] As for his strangerhood, I noted that the dress of the woman differed from that of the townsfolk, wherefore I knew that she was a foreigner; and in the mouth of the phial I saw a yellow rag,[FN#448] which garred me wot that the sick man was a Jew and she a Jewess.  Moreover, she came to me on first day;[FN#449] and ‘tis the Jews’ custom to take meat puddings[FN#450] and food that hath passed the night[FN#451] and eat them on the Saturday their Sabbath, hot and cold, and they exceed in eating; wherefore flatulence and indigestion betide them.  Thus I was directed and guessed that which thou hast heard.”  Now when Jalinus heard this, he ordered the Weaver the amount of his wife’s dowry and bade him pay it to her and said to him, “Divorce her.”  Furthermore, he forbade him from returning to the practice of physic and warned him never again to take to wife a woman of rank higher than his own; and he gave him his spending money and charged him return to his proper craft.  “Nor” (continued the Wazir), “is this tale stranger or rarer than the story of the Two Sharpers who each cozened his Compeer.”  When King Shah Bakht heard this, he said to himself, “How like is this story to my present case with this Minister, who hath not his like!” Then he bade him hie to his own house and come again at eventide.

The Twenty-first Night of the Month.

Whenas nighted the night, the Wazir presented himself before the King, who bade him relate the promised story.  So he said, “Hearkening and obedience.  Give ear, O king, to

The Tale of the Two Sharpers who each Cozened his
Compeer.