Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/228

198 forefinger and thumb, broke it, for it was brittle and would not brook [pressure]. Quoth the king, ‘Why hast thou broken the jewel?’ And Marouf laughed and said, ‘O king of the age, this is no jewel. This is but a piece of stone worth a thousand dinars; why dost thou style it a jewel? A jewel, save the mark, is such as is worth threescore and ten thousand dinars, and this is called but a piece of stone. A jewel that is not of the bigness of a walnut hath no value in my eyes and I take no account thereof. How comes it, then, that thou, who art a king, stylest this a jewel, when it is but a piece of stone worth a thousand dinars? But ye are excusable, for that ye are poor and have not in your possession things of price.’ ‘O merchant,’ said the king, ‘hast thou jewels such as those whereof thou speakest?’ And he answered, ‘Abundance.’ Whereupon covetise overcame the king and he said, ‘Wilt thou give me real jewels?’ ‘When my baggage-train comes,’ replied Marouf, ‘I will give thee jewels galore; and all that thou canst desire I have in plenty and will give thee, without price.’

At this the king rejoiced and said to the merchants, ‘Go your ways and have patience with him, till his baggage arrives, when do ye come to me and receive your monies from me.’ So they went away and the king turned to his vizier and said to him, ‘Caress the merchant Marouf and give and take with him in talk and bespeak him of my daughter, that he may marry her and so we gain these riches of his.’ ‘O king of the age,’ answered the vizier, ‘this man’s fashion liketh me not and methinks he is an impostor and a liar: so do thou leave this whereof thou speakest, lest thou lose thy daughter for nought.’

Now this vizier had urged the king aforetime to give him his daughter to wife and he was willing to do so, but she consented not to marry him. So the king said to him, ‘O traitor, thou desirest no good for me, for that