glee, “O my father, look here; this nest is made of cloth.”  Sa’d and Sa’di wondered with all wonderment at the sight and the marvel grew the greater when I, after considering it closely, recognised it for the very turband whereon the kite had swooped and which had been borne off by the bird.  Then quoth I to my two friends “Examine well this turband and certify yourselves that it is the selfsame one worn upon my head when first ye honoured me with your presence.”  Quoth Sa’d, “I know it not,” and quoth Sa’di, “An thou find within it the hundred and ninety gold pieces, then shalt thou be assured that is thy turband in very sooth.”  I said, “O my lord, this is, well I wot, that very turband.”  And as I held it in my hand, I found it heavy of weight, and opening out the folds felt somewhat tied up in one of the corners of the cloth;[FN#288] so I unrolled the swathes when lo and behold!  I came upon the purse of gold pieces.  Hereat, shewing it to Sa’di, I cried, “Canst thou not recognise this purse?” and he replied, “’Tis in truth the very purse of Ashrafis which I gave thee when first we met.”  Then I opened the mouth and, pouring out the gold in one heap upon the carpet, bade him count his money; and he turned it over coin by coin and made the sum there of one hundred and ninety Ashrafis.  Hereat waxing sore ashamed and confounded, he exclaimed, “Now do I believe thy words:  nevertheless must thou admit that thou hast earned one half of this thy prodigious wealth with the two hundred gold pieces I gave thee after our second visit, and the other half by means of the mite thou gottest from Sa’d.”  To this I made no answer, but my friends ceased not to dispute upon the matter.  We then sat down to meat and drink, and when we had eaten our sufficiency, I and my two friends went to sleep in the cool arbour; after which when the sun was well nigh set we mounted and rode off to Baghdad leaving the servants to follow.  However, arrived at the city we found all the shops shut and nowhere could we get grain and forage for the horses, and I sent off two slave boys who had run alongside of us to search for provender.  One of them found a jar of bran in the shop of a corn-dealer and paying for the provision brought it, together with the jar, under promise that on the morrow he would carry back the vessel.  Then he began to take out the bran by handfuls in the dark and to set it before the horses.  And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till

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

Then said she:—­I have heard, O auspicious king, that Hasan al-Habbal thus continued his story:—­So as the slave boy took out the bran by handfuls and set it before the horses, suddenly his hand came upon a piece of cloth wherein was somewhat heavy.  He brought it to me even as he found it and said, “See, is not this cloth the very one of whose loss thou hast ofttimes spoken to us?” I took it and wondering with great wonder knew it was the self same piece