Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/346

330 Himself, and they buried him hard by the tomb of his comrade Aboukir; wherefore the place was called Aboukir and Abousir; but it is now known as Aboukir [only]. This, then, is that which hath reached us of their history, and glory be to Him who endureth for ever and by whose will the days and nights succeed each other! ABDALLAH THE FISHERMAN AND ABDALLAH THE MERMAN.

There was once a fisherman named Abdallah, who had a wife and nine children and was very poor, owning nothing but his net. Every day he used to go to the sea to fish, and if he caught little, he sold it and spent the price on his children, after the measure of that which God vouchsafed him of provision; but, if he caught much, he would cook a good mess of meat and buy fruit and spend without stint till nothing was left him, saying in himself, ‘To-morrow’s provision will come to-morrow.’ Presently, his wife gave birth to another child, making ten in all, and it chanced that day that he had nothing at all; so she said to him, ‘O my master, see [and get] me wherewithal I may sustain myself.’ Quoth he, ‘Under favour of God the Most High, I am going to-day to the sea, to fish in the name of this new-born child, that we may see its luck.’ And she answered, ‘Put thy trust in God.’

So he took his net and went down to the sea-shore, where he cast it in the name of the little child, saying, ‘O my God, make his living easy, not hard, and abundant, not scant!’ Then he waited awhile and drew in the net, which came up full of rubbish and sand and pebbles and weeds, and he found therein no fish, neither much nor little. He cast it again and waited, then drew it in, but