Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/348

320 ‘By God the Great,’ cried Khelif, ‘except thou bring me back the gear, I will break thy ribs with this staff!’ For he still carried a quarterstaff. Quoth the Khalif, ‘By Allah, I have not seen the things whereof thou speakest!’ But Khelif said, ‘I will go with thee and take note of thy dwelling-place and complain of thee to the chief of the police, so thou mayst not play me this trick again. By Allah, none took my gown and turban but thou, and except thou give them back to me forthright, I will throw thee off the back of that she-ass of thine and come down on thy pate with this staff, till thou canst not stir!’

So saying, he tugged at the mule’s bridle, so that she reared up on her [hind] legs and the Khalif said in himself, ‘What predicament is this I have fallen into with this madman?’ Then he pulled off a gown he had on, worth a hundred dinars, and said to Khelif, ‘Take this gown in lieu of thine own.’ He took it and donning it, judged it too long; so he cut it short at the knees and winding the cut-off piece about his head, turban-wise, said to the Khalif, ‘What art thou and what is thy craft? But [there needs no asking]: thou art none other than a trumpeter.’ Quoth Er Reshid, ‘What discovered to thee that I was a trumpeter by trade?’ And Khelif answered, ‘Thy big nostrils and small mouth.’ ‘Well done!’ cried the Khalif. ‘Yes, I am a trumpeter.’

Then said Khelif, ‘If thou wilt hearken to me, I will teach thee the art of fishing: it will be better for thee than trumpeting and thou wilt eat lawfully [earned bread].’ ‘Teach it me,’ replied Er Reshid, ‘so I may see whether it will suit me or no.’ And Khelif said, ‘Come with me, O trumpeter.’ So the Khalif followed him down to the river and took the net from him, whilst he taught him how to cast it. So he cast it [and drew it up], when, behold, it was heavy, and the fisherman said, ‘O trumpeter, if the net be caught on one of the rocks, beware lest thou