Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/275

241 upon all his viziers and amirs and the grandees of his realm and bade decorate the city thirty days; nor did he put one of the townsfolk to aught of charge on account thereof, but the whole of the expenditure was from the King’s treasury. So they decorated the city in splendid fashion, never before was seen the like thereof, and the drums beat and the pipes sounded, whilst all the mimes and mountebanks and players plied their various arts and the King lavished on them gifts and largesse. Moreover, he gave alms to the poor and needy and extended his bounty to all his subjects and the people of his realm. And he and they abode in pleasance and delight and happiness and contentment, till there came to them the Destroyer of Delights and the Sunderer of Companies. So glory be to Him whom the vicissitudes of time waste not away nor doth aught of change betide Him, whom one case diverteth not from other and who is unique in the attributes of perfection! And blessing and peace upon the High Priest of His Majesty and His Elect among His creatures, our lord, the chief of mankind, through whom we beseech Him for a goodly end! VOL. IX.