And Shibli Bagarag said, ’O my princes, surely it is a silly matter to crown a mouse!  Humility hath depressed my stature!  Wullahy, I have had warning in the sticking of this crown to my brows, and it sticketh like an abomination.’

They laughed at him, saying, ’It was the heaviness of that crown which overweighted thee in the bridge of the abyss, and few be they that bear it and go not to feed the Roc.’

Now, they feasted together, interchanging civilities, offering to each other choice morsels, dainties.  And the anecdotes of Shibli Bagarag, his simplicity and his honesty, and his vanity and his airiness, and the betraying tongue of the barber, diverted the youths; and they plied him with old wine till his stores of merriment broke forth and were as a river swollen by torrents of the mountain; and the seven youths laughed at him, spluttering with laughter, lurching with it.  Surely, he described to them the loquacity of Baba Mustapha his uncle, and they laughed so that their chins were uppermost; but at his mention of Shagpat greater gravity was theirs, and they smoothed their faces solemnly, and the sun of their merriment was darkened for awhile.  Then they took to flinging about pellets of a sugared preparation, and reciting verses in praise of jovial living, challenging to drink this one and that one, passing the cup with a stanza.  Shibli Bagarag thought, ’What a life is this led by these youths! a fair one!  ’Tis they that be the sons of Aklis who sharpen the Sword of Events; yet live they in jollity, skimming from the profusion of abundance that which floateth!’

Now, marking him contemplative, one of the youths shouted, ’The King lacketh homage!’

And another called, ‘Admittance for his people!’

Then the seven arose and placed Shibli Bagarag on an elevation in the midst of them, and lo! a troop of black slaves leading by the collar, asses, and by a string, monkeys.  Now, for the asses they brayed to the Evil One, and the monkeys were prankish, pulling against the string, till they caught sight of Shibli Bagarag.  Then was it as if they had been awestricken; and they came forward to him with docile steps, eyeing the crown on his head, and prostrated themselves, the asses and the monkeys, like creatures in whom glowed the lamp of reason and the gift of intelligence.  So Shibli Bagarag drooped his jaw and was ashamed, and he cried, ‘my princes! am I a King of these?’

They answered, ‘A King in mightiness!  Sultan of a race!’

So he said, ’It is certain I shall need physic to support such a sovereignty!  And I must be excused liberal allowances of old wine to sit in state among them.  Wullahy! they were best gone for awhile.  Send them from me, O my princes!  I sicken.’

And he called to the animals, ‘Away! begone!’ frowning.

Then said the youths, ’Well commanded! and like a King!  See, they troop from thy presence obediently.’

Now the animals fled from before the brows of Shibli Bagarag, and when the chamber was empty of them the seven young men said, ’Of a surety thou wert flattered to observe the aspect of these animals at beholding thee.’