第65章

'Hearkening and obedience，'answered I and accompanied him to his house，where he bade his servants bring me what money the monkey had earned for me.So they brought it and he said to me，'O my son，Allah hath blessed thee with this wealth，by way of profit on thy five dirhams.'Then the slaves set down the treasure in chests，which they had carried on their heads，and Abu al-Muzaffar gave me the keys saying，'Go before the slaves to thy house； for in sooth all this wealth is thine.'So I returned to my mother，who rejoiced in this and said to me，'O my son，Allah hath blessed thee with all these riches； so put off thy laziness and go down to the bazar and sell and buy.'At once I shook off my dull sloth，and opened a shop in the bazar，where the ape used to sit on the same divan with me eating with me when I ate and drinking when I drank.But，every day，he was absent from dawn till noon，when he came back bringing with him a purse of a thousand dinars，which he laid by my side，and sat down； and he ceased not so doing for a great while，till I amassed much wealth，wherewith，O Commander of the Faithful，I purchased houses and lands，and I planted gardens and I bought me white slaves and negroes and concubines.Now it came to pass one day，as I sat in my shop，with the ape sitting at my side on the same carpet，behold，he began to turn right and left，and I said to myself，'What aileth the beast？'Then Allah made the ape speak with a ready tongue，and he said to me，'O Abu Mohammed！'Now when I heard him speak，I was sore afraid； but he said to me，'Fear not； I will tell thee my case.I am a Marid of the Jinn and came to thee because of thy poor estate； but today thou knowest not the amount of thy wealth； and now I have need of thee and if thou do my will，it shall be well for thee.'I asked，'What is it？'and he answered，'I have a mind to marry thee to a girl like the full moon.'Quoth I，'How so？'； and quoth he，'Tomorrow don thou thy richest dress and mount thy mule，with the saddle of gold and ride to the Haymarket.There enquire for the shop of the Sharif[234] and sit down beside him and say to him，'I come to thee as a suitor craving thy daughter's hand.''If he say to thee，'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family'； pull out a thousand dinars and give them to him，and if he ask more，give him more and tempt him with money.'Whereto I replied，'To hear is to obey； I will do thy bidding，Inshallah！'So on the next morning I donned my richest clothes，mounted my she mule with trappings of gold and rode to the Haymarket where I asked for the Sharif's shop，and finding him there seated，alighted and saluted him and seated myself beside him'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Three Hundred and Third Night，She said，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that Abu Mohammed Lazybones continued：'So I alighted and，saluting him，seated myself beside him，and my Mamelukes and negro-slaves stood before me.Said the Sharif，'Haply，thou hast some business with us which we may have pleasure of transacting？'Replied I，'Yes，I have business with thee.'Asked he，'And what is it？'； and I answered，'I come to thee as a suitor for thy daughter's hand.'

So he said，'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family；'

whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand dinars，red gold，and said to him，'This is my rank[235] and my family；

and he （whom Allah bless and keep！） hath said，The best of ranks is wealth.And how well quoth the poet，'Whoso two dithams hath，his lips have learnt*Speech of all kinds with eloquence bedight：

Draw near[236] his brethren and crave ear of him，* And him thou seest haught in pride-full height：

Were't not for dirhams wherein glories he，* Hadst found him'mid man kind in sorry plight.

When richard errs in words they all reply，*'Sooth thou hast spoken and hast said aright！'

When pauper speaketh truly all reply*'Thou liest；'and they hold his sayings light.[237]

Verily dirhams in earth's every stead*Clothe men with rank and make them fair to sight Gold is the very tongue of eloquence；*Gold is the best of arms for might who'd fight！'

Now when the Sharif heard these my words and understood my verse，he bowed his head awhile groundwards then raising it，said，'If it must be so，I will have of thee other three thousand gold pieces.'