be the issue of thy mare.’” So the Wazir turning to the master of the cow asked, “O man, what sayest thou concerning what thy comrade hath spoken?” and the other answered, “O my lord, in very deed this colt is the produce of my cow and I brought it up by hand.”  Quoth the Wazir, “Is it right that black cattle should bring forth horses and that horses should bear cows? indeed the intelligence of an intelligent man may not compass this;” and quoth the other, “O my lord, Allah createth whatso He willeth and maketh kine to produce horses and horses to produce kine.”  Hereupon the Minister said to him, “O Shaykh, when thou seest a thing before thee and lookest thereon canst thou speak of it in the way of truth?” And the other assented.  Then the Wazir continued addressing the two men, “Wend your ways at this time and on the morrow be present here at early morn and let it be at a vacant hour.”  Accordingly they forthright went forth, and the next day early the two men came to the divan of the Wazir who set before them a she-mouse he had provided and called for a sack which he filled with earth.  And as the men stood between his hands he said, “Wait ye patiently without speaking a word;” so they held their peace and presently he bade them set the sack and the mouse before him and he ordered the men to load the sack upon the mouse.  Both cried, “O our lord, ’tis impossible that a mouse can carry a sack full of earth,” when he answered, “How then can a cow bear a colt? and when a mouse shall be able to bear a sack then shall a cow bear a colt.”  All this and the Sultan was looking out at the latticed window listening and gazing.  Hereupon the Wazir gave an order that the master of the mare take her colt and the master of the cow carry off her calf; after which he bade them go about their business.—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The four hundred and twelfth night,

Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Sultan, whose Minister was the Wazir-wise-in-Allah-Almighty, on a certain day summoned his Chief Councillor and when he came said to him, “Verily my breast is straitened and I am beset by unease, so I desire to hear something which may broaden my bosom;” and said the other, “O King of the age, by Allah, I have a friend who is named Mahmud the ’Ajami and that man