all under charge of honest supervisors; and thus it is that I have amassed such a muchel of wealth.  Lastly, for my own especial place of business I bought another house, a ruined place with a sufficiency of land adjoining; and, pulling down the old shell, I edified in lieu thereof the new and spacious edifice which thy Highness hath deigned yesterday to look upon.  Here all my workmen are lodged and here also are kept my office-books and accounts; and besides my warehouse it containeth apartments fitted with furniture in simple style all sufficient for myself and my family.  After some time I quitted my old home, wherein Sa’d and Sa’di had seen me working, and went and lived in the new mansion and not long after this removal my two friends and benefactors bethought them that they would come and visit me They marvelled much when, entering my old workshop, they found me not, and they asked the neighbours, “Where dwelleth such and such a rope-maker?  Is he alive or dead?” Quoth the folk “He now is a rich merchant; and men no longer call him simply ‘Hasan,’ but entitle him ’Master Hasan the Rope-maker.’  He hath built him a splendid building and he dwelleth in such and such a quarter.”  Whereupon the two familiars set forth in search of me; and they rejoiced at the good report; albeit Sa’di would by no means be convinced that all my wealth had sprung (as Sa’d contended) from its root, that small leaden coin.  Presently, conning the matter over in his mind he said to his comrade, “It delighteth me much to hear of all this good fortune which hath betided Hasan, despite that he twice deceived me and took from me four hundred gold pieces, whereby he hath gotten to himself these riches; for it is absurd to think that it hath come from the leaden coin thou gavest him.  Withal I do forgive him and owe him no grudge.”  Replied the other, “Thou art mistaken.  I know Hasan of old to be a good man and true:  he would not delude thee and what he told us is simple sooth.  I am persuaded in my mind that he hath won all his wealth and opulence by the leaden coin:  however we shall hear anon what he may have to say.”  Conversing thus they came into the street wherein I now dwell and, seeing a large and magnificent mansion and a new made, they guessed it was mine.  So they knocked and, on the porter opening, Sa’di marvelled to see such grandeur and so many folk sitting within, and feared lest haply they had unwittingly entered the house of some Emir.  Then plucking courage he enquired of the porter, “Is this the dwelling place of Khwajah Hasan al-Habbal?”—­And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazed held her peace till

      The end of the Six Hundred and Twenty-second Night.