not found favour in thine eyes.' Thereupon the Sultan will make an example of me, and I shall be a gazing-stock to all the people and my life will be lost." Quoth his wife, "Let none know of this thing which hath happened privily, and commit thy case to Allah and trust in Him to save thee from such strait; for He who knoweth the future shall provide for the future." With this she brought the Wazir a cup of wine and his heart was quieted, and he ceased to feel wrath and fear. Thus far concerning him; but as regards his son Nur al-Din Ali, fearing the consequence of his misdeed he abode his day long in the flower garden and came back only at night to his mother's apartment where he slept; and, rising before dawn, returned to the gardens. He ceased not to do thus for two whole months without showing his face to his parent, till at last his mother said to his father, "O my lord, shall we lose our boy as well as the girl? If matters continue long in this way he will flee from us." "And what to do?" asked he; and she answered, "Do thou watch this night; and, when he cometh, seize on him and frighten him: I will rescue him from thee and do thou make peace with him and give him the damsel to wife, for she loveth him as he loveth her. And I will pay thee her price." So the Minister say up that night and, when his son came, he seized him and throwing him down knelt on his breast and showed as thou he would cut his throat; but his mother ran to the youth's succour and asked her husband, "What wouldest thou do with him?" He answered her, "I will split his weasand." Said the son to the father, "Is my death, then, so light a matter to thee?"; and his father's eyes welled with tears, for natural affection moved him, and he rejoined, "O my son, how light was to thee the loss of my good and my life!" Quoth Nur al-Din, "Hear, O my father, what the poet hath said,

‘Forgive me! thee-ward sinned I, but the wise * Ne'er to the
     sinner shall deny his grace:
Thy foe may pardon sue when lieth he * In lowest, and thou
     holdest highest place!'"

Thereupon the Wazir rose from off his son's breast saying, "I forgive thee!"; for his heart yearned to him; and the youth kissed the hand of his sire who said, "O my son, were I sure that thou wouldest deal justly by Anis al-Jalis, I would give her to thee." "O my father, what justice am I to do to her?" "I enjoin thee, O my son, not to take another wife or concubine to share with her, nor sell her." "O my father! I swear to thee that verily I will not do her injustice in either way." Having sworn to that effect Nur al-Din went in to the damsel and abode with her a whole year, whilst Allah Almighty caused the King to forget the matter of the maiden; and Al-Mu'ín, though the affair came to his ears, dared not divulge it by reason of the high favour in which his rival stood with the Sultan. At the end of the year Al-Fazl went one day to the public baths; and, as he came out whilst he was still sweating, the air struck him[FN#20] and he caught a cold which turned to a fever; then he took to his bed. His malady gained ground and restlessness was longsome upon him and weakness bound him like a chain; so he called out, "Hither with my son;" and when Nur al-Din Ali came he said to him, "O my son, know that man's lot and means are distributed and decreed; and the end of days by all must be dree'd; and that every soul drain the cup of death is nature's need." The he repeated these lines,

"I die my death, but He alone is great who dieth not! * And well
     I wot, soon shall I die, for death was made my lot:
A King there's not that dies and holds his kingdom in his hand, *
     For Sovranty the Kingdom is of Him who dieth not."

Then he continued, "O my son, I have no charge to leave thee save that thou fear Allah and look to the issues of thine acts and bear in mind my injunctions anent Anis al-Jalis." "O my father!" said Nur al-Din, "who is like unto thee? Indeed thou art famed for well doing and preachers offer prayers for thee in their pulpits!" Quoth Al-Fazl, "O my son, I hope that Allah Almighty may grant me acceptance!" Then he pronounced the Two Testimonies,[FN#21] or Professions of the Faith, and was recorded among the blessed. The palace was filled with crying and lamentation and the news of his death reached the King, and the city-people wept, even those at their prayers and women at household cares and the school-children shed tears for Bin- Khákán. Then his son Nur al-Din Ali arose and made ready his funeral, and the Emirs and Wazirs and high Officers of State and city-notables were present, amongst them the Wazir al-Mu'ín bin Sáwí. And as the bier went forth from the house some one in the crowd of mourners began to chant these lines,

"On the fifth day I quitted al my friends for evermore, * And
     they laid me out and washed me on a slab without my
     door:[FN#22]
They stripped me of the clothes I was ever wont to wear, * And
     they clothed me in the clothes which till then I never wore.
On four men's necks they bore me and carried me from home * To
     chapel; and some prayed for him on neck they bore:
They prayed for me a prayer that no prostration knows;[FN#23] *
     They prayed for me who praised me and were my friends of
     yore;
And they laid me in a house with a ceiling vaulted o'er, * And
     Time shall be no more ere it ope to me its door."

When they had shovelled in the dust over him and the crowd had dispersed, Nur al-Din returned home and he lamented with sobs and tears; and the tongue of the case repeated these couplets,

"On the fifth day at even-tide they went away from me: *
     farewelled them as faring they made farewell my lot:
But my spirit as they went, with them went and so I cried, * 'Ah
     return ye!' but replied she, 'Alas! return is not
To a framework lere and lorn that lacketh blood and life, * A
     frame whereof remaineth naught but bones that rattle and
     rot:
Mine eyes are blind and cannot see quencht by the flowing tear! *
     Mine ears are dull and lost to sense: they have no power to
     hear!'"

He abode a long time sorrowing for his father till, one day, as he was sitting at home, there came a knocking at the door; so he rose in haste and opening let in a man, one of his father's intimates and who had been the Wazir's boon-companion. The visitor kissed Nur al-Din's hand and said to him, "O my lord, he who hath left the like of thee is not dead; and this way went also the Chief of the Ancients and the Moderns. [FN#24] O my lord Ali, be comforted and leave sorrowing." Thereupon Nur al-Din rose and going to the guest-saloon transported thither all he needed. Then he assembled his companions and took his handmaid again; and, collecting round him ten of the sons of the merchants, began to eat meat and drink wine, giving entertainment after entertainment and lavishing his presents and his favours. One day his Steward came to him and said, "O my lord Nur al-Din, hast thou not heard the saying, Whoso spendeth and reckoneth not, to poverty wendeth and recketh not?" And he repeated what the poet wrote,

"I look to my money and keep it with care, * For right well I wot
     'tis my buckler and brand:
Did I lavish my dirhams on hostilest foes,[FN#25] * I should
     truck my good luck by mine ill luck trepanned:
So I'll eat it and drink it and joy in my wealth; * And no
     spending my pennies on others I'll stand:
I will keep my purse close 'gainst whoever he be; * And a niggard
     in grain a true friend ne'er I fand:
Far better deny him than come to say:—Lend, * And five-fold the
     loan shall return to