throne of the Sultanate wherewith the Almighty hath gifted thee;” and quoth the other, “By Allah, O my lord, I believe that there is not in me or strength or long-suffering to take seat upon yonder throne.”  All this the King (who erst was a merchant’s son) recounted to the Judge and presently resumed:[FN#615]—­Then the man, O my lord, said to me, “O my son, to all who shall come hither and seek thee be sure thou distribute gifts and do alms-deeds; so the folk, hearing of thy largesse, shall flock to thee and gather about thee and as often as one shall visit thee, exceed in honour and presents from the treasure-store thou hast sighted and whose site thou weetest.”  And so speaking, O our lord the Kazi, he vanished from my view and I wist not an he had upflown to the firmament or had dived into the depths of the earth, but one thing I knew; to with, that I was alone.—­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 would relate an the Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was,

The Nine Hundred and Fourteenth 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 merchant’s son resumed to the Kazi:—­Then the man vanisht from my view and I wist no more thereof.  So I seated me (and I was all alone) in that city for the first day and the second, but on the third behold, I saw a crowd making for me from the city-suburbs and they were seeking a site wherefrom they had somewhat to require.  So I met them and welcomed them and seated them, and soon I arose and cooking for them food ate in their company and we nighted together; and when it was morning I presented each and every of them with an hundred dinars.  These they accepted and fared forth from me and on reaching their homes they recounted the adventure to other folk who also flocked to me and received presents like those who preceded them.  Anon appeared to me a multitude with their children and wives who said, “Billahi,[FN#616] O my lord, accept of us that we may settle beside thee and be under thy protecting glance;” whereupon I ordered houses be given to them.  Moreover there was amongst them a comely youth who showed signs of prosperity and him I made my assessor; so we two, I and he, would converse together.  The crowd thickened, little by little, until the whilome ruined city became fulfilled of inhabitants, when I commanded sundry of them that they go forth and lay our gardens and orchards and plant tree-growth; and a full-told