Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 5.djvu/116

 and Shirin were looking on, and the Queen said, O King, didst thou note the meanness of the man, in that he must needs stoop down to pick up the one dirham, and could not bring himself to leave it for any of the Kings servants?  When the King heard these words, he was exceeding wroth with the fisherman and said, Thou art right, O Shirin!  So he called the man back and said to him, Thou low-minded carle! Thou art no man! How couldst thou put the bag with all this money off thy back and bend thee groundwards to pick up the one dirham and grudge to leave it where it fell?  Thereupon the fisherman kissed the earth before him and answered, May Allah prolong the Kings life! Indeed, I did not pick up the dirham off the ground because of its value in my eyes; but I raised it off the earth because on one of its faces is the likeness of the King and on the other his name; and I feared lest any should unwittingly set foot upon it, thus dishonouring the name and presentment of the King, and I be blamed for this offence.  The King wondered at his words and approved of his wit and shrewdness, and ordered him yet another four thousand dirhams. Moreover, he bade cry abroad in his kingdom, saying, It behoveth none to be guided by womens counsel; for whoso followeth their advice, loseth, with his one dirham, other twain. [FN#131]  And here is the tale they tell of

YAHYA BIN KHALID THE BARMECIDE AND THE POOR MAN

Yahya bin Khálid the Barmecide was returning home, one day, from the Caliphs palace, when he saw, at the gate of his mansion, a man who rose as he drew near and saluted him, saying, O Yahya, I am in sore need of that which is in they hand, and I make Allah my intermediary with thee.  So Yahya caused a place to be set aside for him in his house and bade his treasurer carry him a thousand dirhams every day and ordered that his diet be of the choicest of his own meat. The man abode in this case a whole month, at the end of which time, having received in all thirty thousand dirhams and fearing lest Yahya should take the money from him, because of the greatness of the sum, he departed by stealth. -- And Shahrazad