Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/38

22 saying, he shook his head and laughed aloud, repeating the following verses:

Then he returned in haste to the wolf and said to him, ‘God hath made plain the way for thee into the vineyard, without toil. This is of thy good luck; so mayst thou enjoy the easy booty and the plentiful provant that God hath opened up to thee without trouble!’ ‘What proof hast thou of what thou sayest?’ asked the wolf; and the fox answered, ‘I went up to the vineyard and found that the owner was dead, having been devoured by wolves: so I entered and saw the fruit shining on the trees.’ The wolf misdoubted not of the fox’s report and gluttony got hold on him; so he rose and repaired to the breach, blinded by greed; whilst the fox stopped short and lay as one dead, applying to the case the following verse:

Then said he to the wolf, ‘Enter the vineyard: thou art spared the trouble of climbing, for the wall is broken down, and with God be the rest of the benefit.’ So the wolf went on, thinking to enter the vineyard; but when he came to the middle of the covering (of the pit), he fell in; whereupon the fox shook for delight and gladness; his care and concern left him and he sang out for joy and recited the following verses:

Fortune hath taken ruth on my case; Yea, she hath pitied the length of my pain, Doing away from me that which I feared And granting me that whereto I was fain.