ndfuls of money among the
crowd, which caused a renewal of the dreadful clamour. When the noise
had somewhat subsided, the kazi, hitherto dumb from astonishment, turned
to his son-in-law, and demanded to know the meaning of such a scene
before his mansion. The merchant replied that the leaders of the crowd
were his kinsfolk, although his father had abandoned the fraternity and
adopted commercial pursuits. He could not, however, disown his kindred,
even for the sake of the kazi's daughter. On hearing this the judge was
beside himself with rage and mortification, exclaiming: "Dog, and son of
a dog! what dirt is this you have made me eat?" The merchant reminded
him that he was now his son-in-law; that his daughter was his lawful
wife; declaring that he would not part with her for untold wealth. But
the kazi insisted upon a divorce and returned the merchant his ten
purses. In the sequel, the young merchant, having ascertained the
parentage of the clever damsel, obtained her in marriage, and lived with
her for many years in happiness and prosperity.[33]

[33] This story has been taken from Arab Shah into the
Breslau printed Arabic text of the _Thousand and One
Nights_, where it is related at great length. The
original was rendered into French under the title of
"Ruses des Femmes" (in the Arabic _Ked-an-Nisa_,
Stratagems of Women) by Lescallier, and appended to his
version of the Voyages of Sindbad, published at Paris in
1814, long before the Breslau text of _The Nights_ was
known to exist. It also forms part of one of the Persian
Tales (_Hazar u Yek Ruz_, 1001 Days) translated by Petis
de la Croix, where, however, the trick is played on the
kazi, not on a young merchant.

IV

ASHAAB THE COVETOUS--THE STINGY MERCHANT AND THE HUNGRY BEDOUIN--THE
SECT OF SAMRADIANS--THE STORY-TELLER AND THE KING--ROYAL GIFTS TO
POETS--THE PERSIAN POET AND THE IMPOSTOR--"STEALING POETRY"--THE RICH
MAN AND THE POOR POET.

Avaricious and covetous men are always the just objects of derision as
well as contempt, and surely covetousness was quite concentrated in the
person of Ashaab, a servant of Othman (seventh century), and a native of
Medina, whose character has been very amusingly drawn by the scholiast:
He never saw a man put his hand into his pocket without hoping and
expecting that he would give him something. He never saw a funeral go
by,