Seven Global Designs

I NDEED, mistress, neither was I born with one eye only; and the story which I am going to tell you is so marvellous that, if it were written with a needle on the inner corner of any eye, yet would it serve as a lesson to the circumspect. Though you see me thus, I am a king and the son of a king, a man of education beyond the ordinary. I have read the Koran with all its seven narratives, I have read all essential books and the writings of the masters of science, I have studied the lore of the stars and the starlike lore of the poets. So rapidly did I learn that I surpassed in knowledge all the men of my time. Especially did my fame spread abroad as a calligrapher; I became renowned in all countries and my worth was known among kings. So it happened that the King of Hind heard tell of me and sent begging my father to let me visit him. This invitation he accompanied with sumptuous gifts and presents meet for us; so my father consented and fitted out six ship...