they said, “This person is a man of worth and we have known in him naught but trustiness and good faith and the best of breeding, and he is endowed with sense and manliness.[FN#482] Indeed, he affirmeth no false claim, for that we have consorted and associated with him and he with us and we know the sincerity of his religion.”  Then quoth one of them to the merchant, “Ho, Such-an-one!  Bethink thee of the past and refresh thy memory.  It cannot be that thou hast forgotten.”  But quoth he, “O people, I wot nothing of what he saith, for indeed he deposited naught with me:”  and the matter was prolonged between them.  Then said the Cheat to the merchant, “I am about to travel and I have, praised be Allah Almighty, much wealth, and this money shall not escape me; but do thou make oath to me.”  And the folk said, “Indeed, this man doth justice upon himself."[FN#483] Whereupon the merchant fell into that which he disliked[FN#484] and came nigh upon loss and ill fame.  Now he had a friend, who pretended to sharpness and intelligence; so he came up to him secretly and said to him, “Let me do so I may cheat this Cheat, for I know him to be a liar and thou art near upon having to weigh out the gold; but I will parry off suspicion from thee and say to him, The deposit is with me and thou erredst in suspecting that it was with other than myself; and so I will divert him from thee.”  The other replied, “Do so, and rid the people of such pretended debts.”  Accordingly the friend turned to the Cheat and said to him, “O my lord, I am Such-an-one, and thou goest under a delusion.  The purse is with me, for it was with me that thou depositedst it, and this Shaykh is innocent of it.”  But the Cheat answered him with impatience and impetuosity, saying, “Extolled be Allah!  As for the purse that is with thee, O noble and faithful man, I know ’tis under Allah’s charge and my heart is easy anent it, because ’tis with thee as it were with me; but I began by demanding the purse which I deposited with this man, of my knowledge that he coveteth the goods of folk.”  At this the friend was confounded and put to silence and returned not a reply; and the only result of his meddling was that each of them--merchant and friend—­had to pay a thousand gold pieces.  So the Cheat took the two thousand dinars and made off; and when he was gone, the merchant said to his friend, the man of pretended sharpness and intelligence, “Ho, Such-an-one!  Thou and I are like the Falcon and the Locust.”  The friend asked, “What was their case?” and the merchant answered with

The Story of the Falcon and the Locust.[FN#485]