Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 4.djvu/309

 her hands were restored to her, goodlier than before. Then said they, "Knowest thou who we are?"; and she replied, "Allah is all knowing;" and they said, "We are thy two Scones of Bread, which thou gayest in alms to the asker and which were the cause of the cutting off of thy hands. So praise thou Allah Almighty for that He hath restored to thee thy hands and thy child." Then she praised Almighty Allah and glorified Him. And men relate a tale of

THE DEVOUT ISRAELITE.
There was once a devout man of the Children of Israel, whose family span cotton-thread; and he used every day to sell the yarn and buy fresh cotton, and with the profit he laid in daily bread for his household. One morning he went out and sold the day's yarn as wont, when there met him one of his brethren, who complained to him of need; so he gave him the price of the thread and returned, empty-handed, to his family, who said to him, "Where is the cotton and the food?" Quoth he, "Such an one met me and complained to me of want; whereupon I gave him the price of the yarn." And they said, "How shall we do? We have nothing to sell." Now they had a cracked trencher and a jar; so he took them