day.  How can we invite the King hither?” The Sage rejoined, “O my son, do thou go invite him relying upon Allah, the Veiler who veileth all things, and say to him, ’My Shaykh greeteth thee with the salam and inviteth thee to visit him next Friday.’” Accordingly, the Youth repaired to the King and saluted him and offered his service and blessed him with most eloquent tongue and said, “O King of the Age, my Shaykh greeteth thee and sayeth to thee, ’Come eat thy pottage[FN#124] with us next Friday,’” whereto the Sultan replied, “Hearing is consenting.”  Then the Youth returned to the Sage and waited upon him according to custom, longing the while for the coming of Friday.  On that day the Sage said to the Youth, “O my son, arise with me and I will show thee what house be ours, so thou mayst go fetch the King.”  Then he took him and the two walked on till they came upon a ruin in the centre of the city and the whole was in heaps, mud, clay, and stones.  The Sage looked at it and said, “O my son, this is our mansion; do thou hie thee to the King and bring him hither.”  But the Youth exclaimed, “O my lord, verily this be a ruinous heap!  How then can I invite the Sultan and bring him to such an ill place?  This were a shame and a disgrace to us.”  Quoth the Sage, “Go and dread thou naught.”  Upon this the Youth departed saying in himself, “By Allah, my Shaykh must be Jinn-mad and doubtless he confoundeth in his insanity truth and untruth.”  But he stinted not faring till he reached the Palace and went in to the Sultan whom he found expecting him; so he delivered the message, “Deign honour us, O my lord, with thy presence."[FN#125] Hereupon the King arose without stay or delay and took horse, and all the lords of the land also mounted, following the Youth to the place where he told them his Shaykh abode.  But when they drew near it they found a royal mansion and eunuchry standing at the gates in costliest gear as if robed from a talismanic hoard.  When the young man saw this change of scene, he was awe-struck and confounded in such way that hardly could he keep his senses, and he said to himself, “But an instant ago I beheld with mine own eyes this very place a ruinous heap:  how then hath it suddenly become on this same site a Palace such as belongeth not to our Sultan?  But I had better keep the secret to myself.”  Presently the King alighted as also did his suite, and entered the mansion, and whenas he inspected it he marvelled at the splendour of the first apartment, but the more narrowly he looked the more magnificent he found the place, and the second more sumptuous than the first.  So his wits were bewildered thereat till he was ushered into a spacious speak-room where they found the Shaykh sitting on one side of the chamber[FN#126] to receive them.  The Sultan salam’d to him whereupon the Sage raised his head and returned his greeting but did not rise to his feet.  The King then sat him down on the opposite side when the Shaykh honoured him by addressing him and was pleased to converse with