Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/334

304 As for Ali, he was giddy with wine and went in, in this plight, to his wife, who said to him, ‘What ails thee?’ Quoth he, ‘We were making merry to-day, when one of my companions brought us liquor; so my friends drank and I with them, and this giddiness came upon me.’ ‘O my lord,’ said she, ‘hast thou forgotten thy fathersfather’s [sic] injunction and done that from which he forbade thee, in consorting with lewd folk?’ ‘These are of the sons of the merchants,’ answered he; ‘they are no lewd folk, only lovers of mirth and good cheer.’ And he continued to lead this life with his friends, day after day, going from place to place and feasting and drinking with them, till they said to him, ‘Our turns are ended, and now it is thy turn.’ ‘Welcome and fair welcome!’ answered he; so, on the morrow, he made ready all that the case called for of meat and drink, double what they had provided, and taking cooks and tent-pitchers and coffee-makers, repaired with the others to Er Rauzeh and the Nilometer, where they abode a whole month, eating and drinking and hearing music and making merry. At the end of the month, Ali found that he had spent a great sum of money; but Satan the Accursed deluded him and said to him, ‘Though thou shouldst spend every day a like sum, yet would not thy wealth fail.’ So he took no account of expense and continued this way of life three years, whilst his wife remonstrated with him and reminded him of his father’s injunctions; but he hearkened not to her, till he had spent all his ready money, when he fell to selling his jewels and spending their price, till they were all gone. Then he sold his houses and lands and farms and gardens, one after another, till they were all gone and he had nothing left but the house in which he lived. So he tore out the marble and wood-work and sold it and spent of its price, till he had