this mischief-making tabby fared there and fell upon him last night and tare off his head; and for this cause when she returned to me I took to punishing her with such blows and stripes.”  Pharaoh rejoined, “O Haykar, indeed I see thou art old and doting!  Between Misraim and Nineveh lie eight hundred and sixty parasangs; so how could this cat have covered them in one night and have torn off thy chanticleer’s head and have returned by morning to Egypt?” He replied, “O my lord, seeing that between Egypt and Assyria is such interval how then can the neighing of my lord the King’s stallion reach unto Nile-land and be heard by your mares so that here they miscarry?” When Pharaoh had pondered these words, he knew that the envoy had returned him a full and sufficient reply, so quoth he, “O Haykar, ’tis my desire that thou make for me two ropes of sand;” and quoth the other, “Do thou prescribe that they bring me a cord from thy stores that I twist one like it.”  So when they had done as he bade, Haykar fared forth arear of the palace and dug two round borings equal to the thickness of the cord; then he collected sand from the river-bed and placed it therein, so that when the sun arose and entered into the cylinder, the sand appeared in the sunlight like unto ropes.[FN#76] Thereupon quoth he to Pharaoh, “Command thy slaves take up these ropes and I will twist thee as many of them as thou willest.”  Quoth Pharaoh, “O Haykar, we have before our eyes a millstone which is broken; and I require of thee that thou sew up the rent.”  Accordingly the Envoy looked about him and, seeing there another stone, said to Pharaoh, “O my lord, here am I a stranger man nor have I with me aught of darning-gear; but I would have thee bid thy confidants amongst the cobblers to provide me out of this other stone with shoemaker’s awls and needles and scissors wherewith I may sew up for thee the breach in yon millstone.”  Hereat Pharaoh the King fell a-laughing, he and his Grandees, and cried, “Blessed be Allah, who hath vouchsafed to thee all this penetration and knowledge;” then, seeing that the Envoy had answered all his questions and had resolved his propositions he forthright confessed that he was conquered and he bade them collect the tax-tribute of three years and present it to him together with the loan concerning which Haykar had written and he robed him with robes of honour, him and his guards and his pages; and supplied him with viaticum, victual and moneys for the road, and said to him, “Fare thee in safety, O honour of thy lord and boast of thy liege:  who like unto thee shall be found as a Councillor for the Kings and the Sultans?  And do thou present my salam to thy master Sankharib the Sovran saying, ’Excuse us for that which we forwarded to thee, as the Kings are satisfied with a scanting of such acknowledgment.’"[FN#77] Haykar accepted from him all this; then, kissing ground before him, said, “I desire of thee, O my lord, an order that not a man of Assyria and Nineveh remain