ss to the gate
from within.--And the Emeer said, This is what occurred to my mind, and
excellent is the advice. Then he called to the carpenters and
blacksmiths, and ordered them to make straight some pieces of wood, and
to construct a ladder covered with plates of iron. And they did so, and
made it strong. They employed themselves in constructing it a whole
month, and many men were occupied in making it. And they set it up and
fixed it against the wall, and it proved to be equal to the wall in
height, as though it had been made for it before that day. So the Emeer
Moosa wondered at it, and said, God bless you! It seemeth, from the
excellence of your work, as though ye had adapted it by measurement to
the wall.--He then said to the people, Which of you will ascend this
ladder, and mount upon the wall, and walk along it, and contrive means
of descending into the city, that he may see how the case is, and then
inform us of the mode of opening the gate? And one of them answered, I
will ascend it, O Emeer, and descend and open the gate. The Emeer
therefore replied, Mount. God bless thee!--Accordingly, the man ascended
the ladder until he reached the top of it; when he stood, and fixed his
eyes towards the city, clapped his hands, and cried out with his loudest
voice, saying, Thou art beautiful! Then he cast himself down into the
city, and his flesh became mashed with his bones. So the Emeer Moosa
said, This is the action of the rational. How then will the insane act?
If we do thus with all our companions, there will not remain of them
one; and we shall be unable to accomplish our affair, and the affair of
the Prince of the Faithful. Depart ye; for we have no concern with this
city.--But one of them said, Perhaps another than this may be more
steady than he. And a second ascended, and a third, and a fourth, and a
fifth; and they ceased not to ascend by that ladder to the top of the
wall, one after another, until twelve men of them had gone, acting as
acted the first. Therefore the sheykh 'Abd-Es-Samad said, There is none
for this affair but myself, and the experienced is not like the
inexperienced. But the Emeer Moosa said to him, Thou shalt not do that,
nor will I allow thee to ascend to the top of this wall; for shouldst
thou die, thou wouldst be the cause of the death of us all, and there
would not remain of us one; since thou art the guide of the party. The
sheykh however replied, Perhaps the object will be accomplished by