Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/102

84 is this in my house?’ Quoth I, ‘I am thy neighbour, the jeweller;’ and he knew me and held his hand. Then he fetched a light and coming up to me, said, ‘O my brother, indeed that which hath befallen thee this night is grievous to me.’ ‘O my brother,’ answered I, ‘tell me who it was entered my house and broke in the door, for I fled to thee, not knowing what was the matter.’ Quoth he, ‘The robbers, who visited our neighbours yesterday and slew such an one and took his goods, saw thee yesterday bringing hither furniture and what not; so they broke in upon thee and stole thy goods and slew thy guests.’ Then we arose, he and I, and repaired to my house, which I found empty and stripped of everything, whereat I was confounded and said to myself, ‘I care not for the loss of the gear, though indeed I borrowed part thereof of my friends; yet is there no harm in that, for they know my excuse in the loss of my goods and the pillage of my house; but as for Ali ben Bekkar and the Khalif’s favourite, I fear lest their case get wind and this cause the loss of my life.’ So I turned to my neighbour and said to him, ‘Thou art my brother and my neighbour and wilt cover my nakedness; what dost thou counsel me to do?’ ‘I counsel thee to wait,’ answered he; ‘for they who entered thy house and stole thy goods have murdered the better part of a company from the Khalif’s palace, besides some of the police, and the Khalif’s officers are now in quest of them on every side. Haply they will chance on them and so thy wish will come about without effort of thine.’ Then I returned to my other house, that in which I dwelt, saying to myself, ‘This that hath befallen me is what Aboulhusn feared and from which he fled to Bassora.’ Presently the pillage of my pleasure-house was noised abroad among the folk, and they came to me from all sides, some rejoicing in my misfortune and others excusing me and condoling with me, whilst I bewailed myself to them and ate not neither drank