discovered a treasure in Daisisa. "O," he says, "now I
am going to get it out." But to get it out it was
necessary that ten million million of ants should cross
the river one by one in a bark made of the half-shell of
a nut. The prince puts the bark in the river, and makes
the ants pass over--one, two, three; and they are still
doing it. Here the story-teller pauses and says: "We
will finish the story when the ants have finished
crossing the river."--Crane's _Italian Popular Tales_,
p. 156.

A story bearing some resemblance to this is related of a khalif who was
wont to cheat poets of their expected reward when they recited their
compositions to him, until he was at length outwitted by the famous
Arabian poet Al-Asma'i: It is said that a khalif, who was very
penurious, contrived by a trick to send from his presence without any
reward those poets who came and recited their compositions to him. He
had himself the faculty of retaining in his memory a poem after hearing
it only once; he had a mamluk (white slave) who could repeat one that he
had heard twice; and a slave-girl who could repeat one that she had
heard thrice. Whenever a poet came to compliment him with a panegyrical
poem, the king used to promise him that if he found his verses to be of
his own composition he would give him a sum of money equal in weight to
what they were written on. The poet, consenting, would recite his ode,
and the king would say: "It is not new, for I have known it some years";
and he would repeat it as he had heard it; after which he would add:
"And this mamluk also retains it in his memory," and order the mamluk to
repeat it, which, having heard it twice, from the poet and the king, he
would do. Then the king would say to the poet: "I have also a slave-girl
who can repeat it," and, ordering her to do so, stationed behind the
curtains, she would repeat what she had thus thrice heard; so the poet
would go away empty-handed. The celebrated poet Al-Asma'i, having heard
of this device, determined upon outwitting the king, and accordingly
composed an ode made up of very difficult words. But this was not the
poet's only preparative measure--another will be presently explained;
and a third was to assume the dress of a Bedouin, that he might not be
known, covering his face, the eyes only excepted, with a _litham_ (piece
of drapery), as is usual with the Arabs of the desert.