KNOW, my daughter, that there was once a merchant, master of riches and cattle, married and the father of children; to whom All&h had also given understanding of the tongues of beasts and birds. The place of this merchant’s house was in a fertile land on the bank of a river, and in his farm there were an ass and a bull. One day the bull came to the stable where the ass was lodged and found it well swept and watered, with well-winnowed barley in the manger and on the ground well-sifted straw, and the ass lying there at his ease. (For when his master mounted him it would only be for some short ride that chance demanded, and the ass would quickly return to his rest.) Now on that day the merchant heard the bull say to the ass: ‘Give you joy of your food, and may you find it healthy, profitable, and of a good digestion! I myself am weary; but you are rested. You eat well- winnowedbarley and are cared for; and if, on occasion, your master mounts you, he brings you quickly back. As f...
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...
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