he cried, “Would Heaven I knew by which road of these three my son Mohammed may have travelled;” and as he was brooding over this difficulty—­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 how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I should relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The Four Hundred and Fifty-ninth 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 as the Sultan was brooding over this difficulty lo and behold! his son Mohammed appeared before him by the path which showed written, “This is the path whereon whoso passeth shall nevermore return.”  But when the King saw him, and face confronted face, he arose and met him and salam’d to him giving him joy of his safety; and the Prince told him all that had befallen him from beginning to end—­how he had not reached those places save by the All-might of Allah, and how he had succeeded in winning his wish by meeting with the ’Aun.  So they nighted in that site and when it was morning they resumed their march, all in gladness and happiness for that the Sultan had recovered his son Mohammed.  They ceased not faring a while until they drew near their native city when the bearers of good tidings ran forward announcing the arrival of the Sultan and his son and, hereupon the houses were decorated in honour of the Prince’s safe return and crowds came out to meet them till such time as all had entered the city-walls, after which their joys increased and their annoy fell from them.  And this is the whole of the tale told by the first Larrikin.  Now when the Sultan heard it he marvelled at what had befallen the chief adventurer therein, when the second Larrikin spoke saying “I have by me a tale, a marvel of marvels, and which is a delight to the hearer and a diversion to the reader and to the reciter.”  Quoth the Sovran, “What may that be, O Shaykh?” and the man fell to relating the

Tale of the Fisherman and his Son

They tell that whilome there was a Fisherman, a poor man with a wife and family, who every day was wont to take his net and go down to the river a-fishing for his daily bread which is distributed.  Then he would sell a portion of his catch and buy victual and the rest he would carry to his wife and children that they might eat.  One day of the many days he said to his son who was growing up to a biggish lad, “O my child, come forth with me this morning, haply All-Mighty Allah may send us somewhat of livelihood