matter to him and he died after her, so it is I who have beaten thee

and gotten thy stake." The Lady Zubaydah answered him in words galore,
and the dispute between them waxed sore.

At last the Caliph sat down at the heads of the pair and said: "By
the tomb of the Apostle of Allah (whom may He save and assain!) and

the sepulchers of my fathers and forefathers, whoso will tell me which
of them died before the other, I will willingly give him a thousand

dinars!" When Abu al-Hasan heard the Caliph's words, he sprang up in
haste and said: "I died first, O Commander of the Faithful! Here

with the thousand dinars, and acquit thee of thine oath and the
swear thou sworest." Nuzhat al-Fuad rose also and stood up before

the Caliph and the Lady Zubaydah, who both rejoiced in this and in
their safety, and the Princess chid her slave girl. Then the Caliph

and Zubaydah gave them joy of their well-being and knew that this
death was a trick to get the gold, and the Lady said to Nuzhat

al-Fuad: "Thou shouldst have sought of me that which thou neededst,
without this fashion, and not have burned my heart for thee." And she,

"Verily, I was ashamed, O my lady."
As for the Caliph, he swooned away for laughing and said, "O Abu

al-Hasan, thou wilt never cease to be a wag and do peregrine things
and prodigious!" Quoth he: "O Commander of the Faithful, this trick

I played off for that the money which thou gavest me was exhausted,
and I was ashamed to ask of thee again. When I was single, I could

never keep money in hand, but since thou marriedst me to this
damsel, if I possessed even thy wealth, I should lay it waste.

Wherefore when all that was in my hand was spent, I wrought this
sleight so I might get of thee the hundred dinars and the piece of

silk, and all this is an alms from our lord. But now make haste to
give me the thousand dinars and acquit thee of thine oath." The Caliph

and the Lady Zubaydah laughed and returned to the palace, and he
gave Abu al-Hasan the thousand dinars saying, "Take them as a

douceur for thy perservation from death," whilst her mistress did
the like with Nuzhat al-Fuad, honoring her with the same words.

Moreover, the Caliph increased the wag in his solde and supplies,
and he and his wife ceased not to live in joy and contentment till

there came to them the Destroyer of delights and Severer of societies,
the Plunderer of palaces, and the Gamerer of graves.

And among tales they tell is one touching

• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• dispute [di´spju:t] v.&n.争论，辩论；争吵 (初中英语单词)
• sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)
• commander [kə´mɑ:ndə] n.指挥员，司令员 (初中英语单词)
• princess [,prin´ses] n.公主；王妃；亲王夫人 (初中英语单词)
• ashamed [ə´ʃeimd] a.惭愧；不好意思 (初中英语单词)
• faithful [´feiθfəl] a.忠实的；可靠的 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• mistress [´mistris] n.女主人；情妇；女能手 (初中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• whilst [wailst] conj.当...时候；虽然 (高中英语单词)
• gotten [´gɔtn] get的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• apostle [ə´pɔsəl] n.传道者 (英语四级单词)
• willingly [´wiliŋli] ad.情愿地，乐意地 (英语四级单词)
• acquit [ə´kwit] vt.无罪开释 (英语四级单词)
• contentment [kən´tentmənt] n.满足；使人满意的事 (英语四级单词)
• touching [´tʌtʃiŋ] a.动人的 prep.提到 (英语四级单词)
• well-being [´wel´bi:iŋ] n.幸福；健康；福利 (英语六级单词)