tongue and strike off thy head with the sword-edge and then make thee meat for the wolves; and so exact retaliation from thine abominable actions.”  Hereupon Nadan made answer and said to Haykar his uncle, “Do with me whatso thy goodness would do and then condone thou to me all my crimes, for who is there can offend like me and can condone like thee?  And now I pray thee take me into thy service and suffer me to slave in thy house and groom thy horses, even to sweeping away their dung, and herd thy hogs; for verily I am the evil-doer and thou art the beneficent; I am the sinner and thou art the pardoner.”  “O dear my son,” rejoined Haykar, “Thou favourest the tree which, albe planted by the side of many waters, was barren of dates and her owner purposed to hew her down, when she said, ’Remove me unto another stead where if I fruit not then fell me.’  But he rejoined, ’Being upon the water-edge thou gavest ne’er a date, so how shalt thou bear fruit being in other site?’ O dear my son, better the senility of the eagle than the juvenility of the raven.  O dear my son, they said to the wolf, ’Avoid the sheep lest haply the dust they raise in flight may do thee a damage;’ but Lupus made answer, ‘Verily their dust is a powder good for the eyes.’  O dear my son, they brought the wolf to school that he might learn to read; but, when quoth they to him, ’Say A, B, C, D,’[FN#86] quoth he, ‘Lamb, Sheep, Kid, Goat,[FN#87] even as within my belly.’  O dear my son, they set the ass’s head beside a tray of meats, but he slipped down and fell to rolling upon his back, for his nature (like that of others) may never be changed.  O dear my son, his say is stablished who said, ’When thou hast begotten a child assume him to be thy son, and when thou hast reared a son assume him to be a slave.’[FN#88] O dear my son, whoso doeth good, good shall be his lot; and whoso worketh evil, evil shall befal him; for that the Lord compensateth mankind according to conduct.  O dear my son, wherewith shall I bespeak thee beyond this my speech? and verily Allah knoweth concealed things and wotteth all secret and hidden works and ways and He shall requite thee and order and ordain between me and thee and shall recompense thee with that thou deservest.”  Now when Nadan heard these words from his uncle Haykar, his body began to swell and become like a blown-up bag and his members waxed puffy, his legs and calves and his sides were distended, then his belly split asunder and burst till his bowels gushed forth and his end (which was destruction) came upon him; so he perished and fared to Jahannam-fire and the dwelling-place dire.  Even so it is said in books:—­“Whoever diggeth for his brother a pit shall himself fall into it and whoso setteth up a snare for his neighbour shall be snared therein.”  And this much know we anent the Say of Haykar the Sage, and magnification be to Allah for ever and ever Amen.

TMT.[FN#89]

                  Thehistory of al-Bundukani
                              or,
               the caliph harun al-Rashid and the
                    daughter of king Kisra.