Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/105

87 dinars. Quoth she, ‘Go to the jeweller and when he gives thee the ring, put it on thy finger and pull it off again in haste, saying, “Thou hast made a mistake, O master! This ring is too large. It behoveth a master like thee, when the like of me cometh to him with a piece of work, to take his measure; and if thou hadst taken the measure of my finger, thou hadst not erred.” Then pull out another stone worth a thousand dinars and say to him, “Take this and set it, and give this ring to one of thy women.” Give him forty dinars and each of his men three, saying, “This is for the chasing, and for the cost of the ring, that stands over.” And see what he will say. Then bring three hundred dinars and give them to thy father the barber, that he may mend his fortune withal, for he is a poor man.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ answered Kemerezzeman and betook himself to the jeweller, who welcomed him and making him sit down, gave him the ring.

He took it and put it on his finger; then pulled it off in haste and said, ‘It behoveth a master like thee, when the like of me brings him a piece of work, to take his measure. Hadst thou taken the measure of my finger, thou hadst not erred; but take it and give it to one of thy women.’ Then he brought out to him a stone worth a thousand dinars and said to him, ‘Take this and set it for me after the measure of my finger.’ ‘Good,’ answered Ubeid. ‘Thou art in the right;’ and took his measure, whereupon he pulled out forty dinars and gave them to him, saying, ‘This is for the chasing and the price of the ring shall remain.’ ‘O my lord,’ said the jeweller, ‘how much hire have we taken of thee! Verily, thy bounty to us is great!’ ‘No harm,’ answered Kemerezzeman and sat talking with him awhile and giving a dinar to every beggar who passed.

Then he left him and went away, whilst the jeweller returned home and said to his wife, ‘How generous is