in all comfort; till one day of the days it so chanced that a woman came to the bakery to buy her bread and gave the owner several dirhams to its price, whereof one was bad coin whilst the others were good.  My master tested all the silvers and, finding out the false bit, returned it demanding a true dirham in exchange; but the woman wrangled and would not take it back and swore that it was sound.  Quoth the baker, “The dirham is beyond all doubt a worthless:  see yonder dog of mine, he is but a beast, yet mark me he will tell thee whether it be true or false silver.”  So he called me by my name, “Bakht!  Bakht!” whereat I sprang up and ran towards him and he, throwing all the moneys upon the ground before me, cried, “Here, look these dirhams over and if there be a false coin among them separate it from all the others.”  I inspected the silvers each by each and found the counterfeit:  then, putting it on one side and all the others on another, I placed my paw upon the false silver and wagging what remained of my tail looked up at my master’s face.  The baker was delighted with my sagacity, and the woman also, marvelling with excessive marvel at what had happened, took back her bad dirham and paid another in exchange.  But when the buyer fared forth, my master called together his neighbours and gossips and related to them this matter; so they threw down on the ground before me coins both good and bad, in order that they might test me and see with their own eyes an I were as clever as my master had said I was.  Many times in succession I picked out the false coins from amongst the true and placed my paw upon them without once failing; so all went away astounded and related the case to each and every one they saw and thus the bruit of me spread abroad throughout the city.  That live long day I spent in testing dirhams fair and foul.—­And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till

        The end of the Six Hundred and Fourteenth Night.

Then said she:—­I have heard, O auspicious King, that Sidi Nu’uman continued his story saying:—­From that day forwards the baker honoured me yet more highly, and all his friends and familiars laughed and said, “Forsooth thou hast in this dog a mighty good Shroff."[FN#267] And some envied my master his luck in having me within the shop, and tried ofttimes to entice me away, but the baker kept me with him nor would he ever allow me to leave his side; for the fame of me brought him a host of customers from every quarter of the town even the farthest.  Not many days after there came another woman to buy loaves at our shop and paid the baker six dirhams whereof one was worthless.  My master passed them over to me for test and trial, and straightway I picked out the false one, and placing paw thereon looked up in the woman’s face.  Hereat she waxed confused and confessed that it was miscoined and praised me for that I had found it out; then, going forth the same woman made signs to me that I should follow her unbeknown to the baker.