“What answerest thou to this complaint and why didst thou not return the gold pieces?” The accused made reply even as the real defendant had done and denied the charge before the Judge, professing himself ready to take oath thereto.  Then said the boy-Kazi, “Ere thou swear on oath that thou hast not taken the money, I would fain see for myself the jar of olives which the plaintiff deposited with thee on trust.”  Then turning to the boy who represented Ali Khwajah he cried, “Go thou and instantly produce the jar that I may inspect it.”  And when the vessel was brought the Kazi said to the two contentious, “See now and say me:  be this the very jar which thou, the plaintiff, leftest with the defendant?” and both answered that it was and the same.  Then said the self-constituted Judge, “Open now the jar and bring hither some of the contents that I may see the state in which the Asafiri-olives actually are.”  Then tasting of the fruit, “How is this?  I find their flavour is fresh and their state excellent.  Surely during the lapse of seven twelvemonths the olives would have become mouldy and rotten.  Bring now before me two oil-merchants of the town that they may pass opinion upon them.”  Then two other of the boys assumed the parts commanded and coming into court stood before the Kazi, who asked, “Are ye olive-merchants by trade?” They answered, “We are and this hath been our calling for many generations and in buying and selling olives we earn our daily bread.”  Then said the Kazi, “Tell me now, how long do olives keep fresh and well-flavoured?” and said they, “O my lord, however carefully we keep them, after the third year they change flavour and colour and become no longer fit for food, in fact they are good only to be cast away.”  Thereupon quoth the boy-Kazi, “Examine me now these olives that are in this jar and say me how old are they and what is their condition and savour.”—­And as the morn began to dawn Shahrazad held her peace till

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

Then said she:—­I have heard, O auspicious King, that the two boys who played the parts of oil-merchants pretended to take some berries from the jar and taste them and presently they said, “O our lord the Kazi, these olives are in fair condition and full-flavoured.”  Quoth the Kazi, “Ye speak falsely, for ’tis seven years since Ali Khwajah put them in the jar as he was about to go a-pilgrimaging;” and quoth they, “Say whatso thou wilt those olives are of this year’s growth, and there is not an oil-merchant in all Baghdad but who will agree with us.”  Moreover the accused was made to taste and smell the fruits and he could not but admit that it was even so as they had avouched.  Then said the boy-Kazi to the boy-defendant, " ’Tis clear thou art a rogue and a rascal, and thou hast done a deed wherefor thou richly deservest the gibbet.”  Hearing this the children frisked about and clapped their hands with glee and gladness, then seizing hold