My brother was so full of these chimerical visions, that he acted with his foot as if she had been really before him; and unfortunately gave such a push against the basket and glasses, that they were thrown down in the street, and broken in a thousand pieces.

A tailor, who was his neighbour, and who had heard his extravagant discourse, fell into a fit of laughter when he saw the basket fall.  O what an unworthy fellow art thou! said he to my brother; ought you not to be ashamed to abuse thus a young spouse, who gave you no cause to complain?  You must be a very brutish fellow to despise the tears and charms of such a beautiful lady!  Were I the vizier your father-in-law, I would order you a hundred lashes with a bull’s pizzle, and send you through the town with your character written on your forehead.  My brother, on this fatal accident, came to himself; and perceiving that he had brought this misfortune upon himself by his unsupportable pride, beat his face, tore his clothes, and cried so loud, that the neighbours came about him; and the people who were going to their noon-prayers stopped to know what was the matter.  It being on a Friday, a greater number of people was going to prayers than usual; some of them took pity on Alnaschar, while others only laughed at his extravagance.  In the mean time, his vanity being dispersed, as well as his glasses, he bitterly lamented his loss; and a lady of distinction passing by on a mule with rich caparisons, my brother’s condition excited her compassion; she asked who he was, and what was the matter with him; they told her that he was a poor man, who had laid out a little money in buying a basket of glasses, and that the basket falling, all his glasses were broken.  The lady immediately turned to an eunuch who attended her, and said to him, Give the poor man what money you have about you.  The eunuch obeying, put into my brother’s hand five hundred pieces of gold.  Alnaschar was transported with excess of joy on receiving them; he bestowed a thousand blessings upon the lady, and shutting up his shop, where he had no longer occasion to sit, he returned to his house.

Whilst he was seriously reflecting upon his good fortune, he heard a knocking at the door; but, before he opened it, he thought it prudent first to inquire who it was; when knowing it to be a woman by her voice, he instantly admitted her.  My son, said she, I have a favour to beg of you:  the hour of prayer is come; be pleased, therefore, to let me wash myself, that I may be fit to say my prayers.  My brother looked at her, and saw that she was a woman far advanced in years:  though he knew her not, he granted what she required, and then sat down again, being still full of his new adventure.  He put his gold into a long strait purse, proper to carry at his girdle.  The old woman, in the mean time, said her prayers, and, when she had done, came to my brother, and bowed twice to the ground, so low that she almost touched