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 Syrian went to his gossip saying, “Give me the ass;” and when the other heard this he showed his teeth[FN#606] and cried, “Allah disappoint the donkey and the owner of the donkey and whoso rideth the donkey,” and flying into an exceeding fury at last said, “Go, O my lord, and take it from the stable, and may Allah never bring back nor thee nor the beast.”  So the Syrian went from him saying in himself, “Allah disappoint this fellow, why did he not give me the ass at first and then he had not had occasion to abuse and curse himself and to revile me also.”  But they say and say truly, “The Syrian winneth his wish, but gaineth only blame while the Egyptian winneth not his wish and gaineth thanks and praise!”

Tale of Himself Told by the King[FN#607]

I have a tale, O my lord the Kazi, which bewildereth the wits and it is on this wise.  By birth and origin I was the son of a Khwajah, but my father owned much worldly wealth in money and effect and vaiselle and rarities and so forth, besides of landed estates and of fiefs and mortmains a store galore.  And every year when the ships of Al-Hind would arrive bringing Indian goods and coffee from Al-Yaman the folk brought thereof one-fourth of the whole and he three-fourths paying in ready cash and hard money.[FN#608] So his word was heard and his works were preferred amongst the Traders and the Grandees and the Rulers.  Also he had control[FN#609] in counseling the Kings and he was held in awe and obeyed by the merchants, one and all, who consulted him in each and every of their affairs.  This endured until one year of the years when suddenly he fell sick and his sickness grew upon him and gained mastery over his frame, so he sent for me, saying, “Bring me my son.”  Accordingly I went and entered to him and found him changed of condition and nearing his last gasp.  But he turned to me and said, “O my son, I charge thee with a charge which do thou not transgress nor contrary me in whatso I shall declare to thee.”  “What may that be?” asked I, and he answered, “O my son, do thou never make oath in Allah’s name, or falsely or truly, even although they fill the world for thee with wealth; but safeguard thy soul in this matter and gain-say it not, nor give ear to aught other.”  But when it was midnight the Divine Mystery[FN#610] left him and he died to the mercy of Allah Almighty; so I buried him, and expending much money upon his funeral and graved him in a handsome tomb.  He had left to me wealth in abundance such as the pens could not compute, but when a month or so had sped after his decease suddenly came to me a party of folk, each and every claming