Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 8.djvu/372

354 rejoice for him and sing and feast?’ ‘Yes,’ replied the merman; ‘and ye of the land, what do ye!’ ‘When one dieth amongst us,’ said Abdallah, ‘we weep and mourn for him and the women buffet their faces and rend the bosoms of their garments, in token of mourning for the dead.’ The merman stared at him with wide eyes and said to him, ‘Give me the deposit.’ So he gave it to him.

Then he set him ashore and said to him, ‘Henceforward our love and our friendship are at an end, and thou shalt no more see me, nor I thee.’ ‘Why sayst thou this?’ asked the fisherman; and the other said, ‘Are ye not, O folk of the land, a deposit of God?’ ‘Yes,’ answered Abdallah. ‘Why then,’ asked the merman, ‘is it grievous to you that God should take back His deposit and wherefore weep ye over it? How can I entrust thee with a deposit for the Prophet, whom God bless and preserve, seeing that, when a child is born to you, ye rejoice in it, albeit God the Most High setteth the soul therein as a deposit; and yet, when He taketh it again, it is grievous to you and ye weep and mourn? Since it is uneath to thee to give up the deposit of God, how shall it be easy to thee to give up the deposit of the Prophet? Wherefore we reck not of your companionship.’ So saying, he left him and disappeared in the sea.

The fisherman donned his clothes and taking the jewels, went up to the king, who received him with open arms and rejoiced at his return, saying, ‘How dost thou, O my son-in-law, and what is the cause of thine absence from me this while?’ So he told him his story and acquainted him with that which he had seen of marvels in the sea, whereat the king wondered. Moreover, he told him what