Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/321

293 figure, by which he found that the intruder’s name was Quicksilver Ali of Cairo; so he turned to him and said, ‘Who art thou and what dost thou here?’ ‘I am Ali of Cairo,’ answered the sharper, ‘of the band of Ahmed ed Denef. I sought the hand of Zeyneb, daughter of Delileh the Crafty, and she demanded thy daughter’s robe to her dowry; give it to me and become a Muslim, if thou wouldst save thy life.’ ‘After thy death,’ answered the Jew. ‘Many have gone about to steal the robe, but could not avail thereto; so, if thou wilt take good advice, thou wilt begone and save thyself; for they only seek the robe of thee, that thou mayst fall into destruction; and indeed, had I not found by geomancy that thy fortune overrideth my own, I had cut off thy head.’

Ali rejoiced to hear that his luck overrode that of the Jew and said to him, ‘There is no help for it but I must have the robe and thou must become a true believer.’ ‘Is this thy last word?’ asked the Jew, and Ali answered, ‘Yes.’ So the Jew took a cup and filling it with water, conjured over it and said to Ali, ‘Quit this shape of a man for that of an ass.’ Then he sprinkled him with the water and straightway he became an ass, with hoofs and long ears, and fell to braying after the manner of asses. The Jew drew a circle round him, which became a wall against him, and drank on till the morning, when he said to Ali, ‘I will ride thee to-day and give the mule a rest.’ So he locked up the robe and tray and rod in a cupboard and conjured over Ali, who followed him. Then he laid the saddle-bags on his back and mounting, rode forth of the palace, whereupon it disappeared and he rode into Baghdad, till he came to his shop, where he alighted and emptied the bags of gold and silver into the trays before him. As for Ali, he tied him up by the shop-door, where he stood, hearing and understanding all that passed, without being able to speak.