Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/25

9 there, till there came up a third Moor, riding on a mule and still more richly accoutred than the first two, who said to him, ‘Peace be on thee, O Jouder, O son of Omar!’ And the fisherman returned his salute, saying in himself, ‘How comes it that they all know me?’ Quoth the Moor, ‘Have any Moors passed by here?’ ‘Two,’ answered Jouder. ‘Whither went they?’ asked the Moor, and Jouder said, ‘I bound their hands behind them and cast them into the lake, where they were drowned, and the same fate is in store for thee.’ The Moor laughed and rejoined, saying, ‘O good fellow, every living soul hath its appointed term.’ Then he alighted and gave the fisherman the silken cord, saying, ‘Do with me as thou didst with them.’ ‘Put thy hands behind thy back,’ said Jouder, ‘that I may pinion thee, for I am in haste, and time flies.’ So he put his hands behind him and Jouder bound him and cast him in. Then he waited awhile, till presently the Moor thrust his hands forth of the water and called out to him, saying, ‘Ho, good fellow! Cast out thy net!’ So Jouder cast the net over him and drew him ashore, and behold, in each hand he held a fish as red as coral. Quoth the Moor, ‘Bring me the two caskets [that are in the saddle-bags].’ So Jouder brought them and opened them to him, and he laid in each casket a fish and shut them up.

Then he pressed Jouder to his bosom and kissed him on the right cheek and the left, saying, ‘God save thee from all stress! By Allah, hadst thou not cast the net over me and pulled me out, I should have kept my grip of the two fish till I sank and was drowned, for I could not get ashore [of myself].’ ‘O my lord the pilgrim,’ quoth Jouder, ‘I conjure thee by Allah, tell me the true history of the two drowned men and the fishes and the Jew.’ ‘Know, O Jouder,’ replied the Moor, ‘that these that were drowned were my two brothers, by name Abdusselam and Abdulahed.