Muhammadan religion, and buried an unclean
animal with sacred rites. On being asked what he had to say in his
defence, the prisoner thus addressed the magistrate: 'If your
reverence will be pleased to hear my story, you will, I am sure,
excuse me. My dog's mother died when he was quite a puppy, and he was
brought up by a she-goat of my flock, who adopted him. When she died
in her turn she left him all her property, consisting of several fine
young kids. Now when my dog was taken ill, and found himself at the
point of death, I asked him what I should do with the kids which
belonged to him, and he replied: "Give them to his reverence the
Kadi." I thought the animal so sensible for this that I gave him
Muslim burial.' 'Quite right,' said his reverence. 'What else was the
lamented deceased pleased to observe?'

II.

A knowledge of the language of birds and beasts is regarded as the
greatest divine gift, and was expressly vouchsafed, according to the
Koranic legend, to Solomon, the son of David. It is related that one
day Solomon was returning to his palace when he saw a cock and hen
sparrow sitting near the gateway, and overheard the former telling the
latter that he was the person who had designed, and planned, and built
all the surroundings. On hearing this Solomon remarked to the male
bird that he must know he was telling a fearful lie, and that nobody
would believe him. 'That is true,' replied the sparrow, 'nobody
probably will believe my story except my wife; she believes implicitly
everything that I say.'

III.

One day a king was sailing in a boat with a negro slave, who was so
seasick that his groans and lamentations disturbed the royal repose. A
doctor who happened to be present undertook to keep the slave quiet,
and, on receiving permission to do so, ordered him to be thrown
overboard, which was promptly done. The poor wretch managed with
difficulty to catch hold of the rudder of the boat, and, being taken
on board once more, sat shivering in a corner, and did not utter
another sound. The king, delighted with this result, asked the doctor
how he had silenced the fellow. 'Your Majesty will see,' was the
reply, 'he had never before experienced the inconvenience of being
drowned, and did not properly appreciate the security of a boat.'

IV.

One day the Khalif Harun-ar-Rashid and his jester, the poet Abu Nuwas,
were disputing as to the truth of an axiom laid down by Abu Nuwas,
that 'an excuse was