he singing of your women, and if you
care not to view the dancers"--the Caliph shook his head--"nor to
listen to the tales or the poems of Abu 'Atahiyeh----"

"Not this evening, though they are good," said Haroun.

"Then what say you to our sallying forth disguised into Bagdad,"
continued Giafer, "that we may observe what goes forward, and perchance
meet with some adventure that may amuse you?"

"That is what I will do," said Haroun, brightening up at the
suggestion; "come, Giafer, let us put on the garb of merchants and go
out."

In a short time Haroun and Giafer sallied forth, with the faithful
Mesrur following, also in disguise, not far behind them. They wandered
through the bazaars until they had seen a great part of Bagdad; but
they met with no adventure and saw nothing particularly strange or
noteworthy throughout all their ramble. The Caliph, who had at first
been much more cheerful, began at length to be tired with the walk, and
again in a somewhat ill-humour.

Giafer, noticing this, proposed that they should take a short cut
through the lower and meaner parts of the town, and so return to the
palace.

As with this intent they passed the end of a narrow and steep street
leading up from the river, they observed a man whose figure and
condition at once arrested the Caliph's attention. He was a tall and
handsome man with the upright, dignified bearing of a soldier; he had
regular features, a large hooked nose, and a long black moustache now
turning somewhat grey. His clothes were very old and ragged; over his
left shoulder he carried a net, and in his right hand a bag evidently
containing a few fish. He was obviously a fisherman just returning
home from his work on the river's bank; but what particularly attracted
the Caliph's attention was the fact that the man was blind. In his
left hand he carried a stick with which he touched sometimes the path
and sometimes the walls of the houses as he passed along, as though to
assure himself of his position. And though he was thus evidently
blind, yet he walked forward, not timidly or slowly, but boldly and
steadily, as if he were very well acquainted with his route.

The Caliph at once approached him and entered into conversation. He
asked him whether he, being blind, caught the fish himself, or whether
he was aided by some one else; whether he had good fortune and caught
much, and how many fish he now had in his bag.

To these inquiries the man replied t