Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 3.djvu/388

358 to him, ‘What ails thee and thy friend to be whispering together? Tell me what is to do with you.’ ‘It is nothing,’ replied Jaafer; but the mock Khalif rejoined, ‘I conjure thee, by Allah, tell me what ails you and hide from me nothing of your case.’ ‘O my lord,’ answered the Vizier, ‘my companion here saw on thy sides the marks of beating with whips and rods and marvelled thereat exceedingly, saying, “How came the Khalif to be beaten?” And he would fain know the cause of this.’ When the youth heard this, he smiled and said, ‘Know that my story is wonderful and my case extraordinary; were it graven with needles on the corners of the eye, it would serve as an admonition to him who can profit by admonition.’ And he sighed and repeated the following verses:

When they heard this, Jaafer swore to him a dissembling oath that they were not those he named; whereupon he laughed and said, ‘Know, O my lords, that I am not the