aught of gold in his life, and went somewhat away. But before he had
gone far, he was minded of the ape's charge and turning back, threw

down the ducat, saying: "Take thy gold and give folk back their
fish! Dost thou make a laughingstock of folk?" The Jew, hearing

this, thought he was jesting, and offered him two dinars upon the
other, but Khalifah said: "Give me the fish, and no nonsense. How

knewest thou I would sell it at this price?" Whereupon the Jew gave
him two more dinars and said, "Take these five ducats for thy fish and

leave greed." So Khalifah hent the five dinars in hand and went
away, rejoicing, and gazing and marveling at the gold and saying:

"Glory be to God! There is not with the Caliph of Baghdad what is with
me this day!"

Then he ceased not faring on till he came to the end of the market
street, when he remembered the words of the ape and his charge, and

returning to the Jew, threw him back the gold. Quoth he: "What
aileth thee, O Khalifah? Dost thou want silver in exchange for

gold?" Khalifah replied: "I want nor dirhams nor dinars. I only want
thee to give me back folk's fish." With this the Jew waxed wroth and

shouted out at him, saying: "O Fisherman, thou bringest me a fish
not worth a sequin and I give thee five for it, yet art thou not

content! Art thou Jinn-mad? Tell me for how much thou wilt sell it."
Answered Khalifah, "I will not sell it for silver nor for gold, only

for two sayings thou shalt say me."
When the Jew heard speak of the "two sayings," his eyes sank into

his head, he breathed hard and ground his teeth for rage, and said
to him, "O nail paring of the Moslems, wilt thou have me throw off

my faith for the sake of thy fish, and wilt thou debauch me from my
religion and stultify my belief and my conviction which I inherited of

old from my forebears?" Then he cried out to the servants who were
in waiting and said: "Out on you! Bash me this unlucky rogue's neck

and bastinado him soundly!" So they came down upon him with blows
and ceased not beating him till he fell beneath the shop, and the

Jew said to them, "Leave him and let him rise." Whereupon Khalifah
jumped up as if naught ailed him, and the Jew said to him: "Tell me

what price thou asketh for this fish and I will give it thee; for thou
hast gotten but scant good of us this day." Answered the fisherman,

"Have no fear for me, O master, because of the beating, for I can
eat ten donkeys' rations of stick."

The Jew laughed at his words and said, "Allah upon thee, tell me
what thou wilt have and by the right of my faith, I will give it

thee!" The fisherman replied, "Naught from thee will remunerate me for
this fish save the two words whereof I spake." And the Jew said,

"Meseemeth thou wouldst have me become a Moslem." Khalifah rejoined:
"By Allah, O Jew, an thou Islamize, 'twill nor advantage the Moslems

nor damage the Jews. And in like manner, an thou hold to thy misbelief
'twill nor damage the Moslems nor advantage the Jews. But what I

desire of thee is that thou rise to thy feet and say: 'Bear witness
against me, O people of the market, that I barter my ape for the ape

of Khalifah the fisherman and my lot in the world for his lot and my
luck for his luck'." Quoth the Jew, "If this be all thou desirest,

'twill sit lightly upon me." So he rose without stay or delay and
standing on his feet, repeated the required words. After which he

turned to the fisherman and asked him, "Hast thou aught else to ask of
me?" "No," answered he, and the Jew said, "Go in peace!"

Hearing this Khalifah sprung to his feet forthright, took up his
basket and net, and returned straight to the Tigris, where he threw

his net and pulled it in. He found it heavy and brought it not
ashore but with travail, when he found it full of fish of all kinds.

Presently up came a woman with a dish, who gave him a dinar, and he
gave her fish for it, and after her a eunuch, who also bought a

dinar's worth of fish, and so forth till he had sold ten dinars'
worth. And he continued to sell ten dinars' worth of fish daily for

ten days, till he had gotten a hundred dinars.
Now Khalifah the fisherman had quarters in the Passage of the

Merchants, and as he lay one night in his lodging much bemused with
hashish, he said to himself: "O Khalifah, the folk all know thee for a

poor fisherman, and now thou hast gotten a hundred golden dinars.
Needs must the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, hear of

this from someone, and haply he will be wanting money and will send
for thee and say to thee: 'I need a sum of money and it hath reached

me that thou hast an hundred dinars, so do thou lend them to me
those same.' I shall answer, 'O Commander of the Faithful, I am a poor

man, and whoso told thee that I had a hundred dinars lied against
me, for I have naught of this.' Thereupon be will commit me to the

Chief of Police, saying, 'Strip him of his clothes and torment him
with the bastinado till he confess and give up the hundred dinars in

his possession.' Wherefore, meseemeth to provide against this
predicament, the best thing I can do is to rise forthright and bash

myself with the whip, so to use myself to beating." And his hashish
said to him, "Rise, doff thy dress."

So he stood up, and putting off his clothes, took a whip he had by
him and set handy a leather pillow. Then he fell to lashing himself,

laying every other blow upon the pillow and roaring out the while-:
"Alas! Alas! By Allah, 'tis a false saying, O my lord, and they have

lied against me, for I am a poor fisherman and have naught of the
goods of the world!" The noise of the whip falling on the pillow and

on his person resounded in the still of night and the folk heard it,
and amongst others the merchants, and they said: "Whatever can ail the

poor fellow, that he crieth and we hear the noise of blows falling
on him? 'Twould seem robbers have broken in upon him and are

tormenting him." Presently they all came forth of their lodgings at.
the noise of the blows and the crying, and repaired to Khalifah's

room, but they found the door locked and said one to other: "Belike
the robbers have come in upon him from the back of the adjoining

saloon. It behooveth us to climb over by the roofs."
So they clomb over the roofs, and coming down through the

skylight, saw him naked and flogging himself, and asked him, "What
aileth thee, O Khalifah?" He answered: "Know, O folk, that I have

gained some dinars and fear lest my case be carried up to the Prince
of True Believers, Harun al-Rashid, and he send for me and demand of

me those same gold pieces; whereupon I should deny, and I fear that if
I deny, he will torture me, so I am torturing myself, by way of

accustoming me to what may come." The merchants laughed at him and
said: "Leave this fooling. May Allah not bless thee and the dinars

thou hast gotten! Verily thou hast disturbed us this night and hast
troubled our hearts."

So Khalifah left flogging himself and slept till the morning, when
he rose and would have gone about his business, but bethought him of

his hundred dinars and said in his mind: "An I leave them at home,
thieves will steal them, and if I put them in a belt about my waist,

peradventure someone will see me and lay in wait for me till he come
upon me in some lonely place and slay me and take the money. But I

have a device that should serve me well, right well." So he jumped
up forthright and made him a pocket in the collar of his gabardine,

and tying the hundred dinars up in a purse, laid them in the collar
pocket. Then he took his net and basket and staff and went down to the

Tigris, where he made a cast, but brought up naught. So he removed
from that place to another and threw again, but once more the net came

up empty. And he went on removing from place to place till he had gone
half a day's journey from the city, ever casting the net, which kept

bringing up naught. So he said to himself, "By Allah, I will throw
my net a-stream but this once more, whether ill come of it or weal!"

Then he hurled the net with all his force, of the excess of his