taken from me?" Quoth Ja'afar (and indeed his side-muscles
trembled as he spoke), "Who told thee that the Palace of Pictures
was illuminated and the windows thrown open?" "Come hither and
see," replied the Caliph. Then Ja'afar came close to the Caliph
and, looking towards the garden, saw the palace blazing with
illumination that rayed through the gloom of the night; and,
thinking that this might have been permitted by the keeper for
some reason of his own, he wished to make an excuse for him; so
quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful, Shaykh Ibrahim said to me
last week, 'O my lord Ja'afar, I much wish to circumcise my sons
during the life of the Commander of the Faithful and thy life.'
I asked, 'What dost thou want?'; and he answered, 'Get me leave
from the Caliph to hold the festival in the Garden Palace.' So
said I to him, 'Go circumcise them and I will see the Caliph and
tell him.' Thereupon he went away and I forgot to let thee
know." "O Ja'afar," said the Caliph, "thou hast committed two
offences against me; first in that thou didst no report to me,
secondly, thou didst not give him what he sought; for he came and
told thee this only as excuse to ask for some small matter of
money, to help him with the outlay; and thou gavest him nothing
nor toldest me." "O Commander of the Faithful," said Ja'afar, "I
forgot." "Now by the rights of my forefathers and the tombs of
my forbears," quoth the Caliph, "I will not pass the rest of this
night save in company with him; for truly he is a pious man who
frequenteth the Elders of the Faith and the Fakirs and other
religious mendicants and entertaineth them; doubtless they are
not assembled together and it may be that the prayer of one of
them will work us weal both in this world and in the next.
Besides, my presence may profit and at any rate be pleasing to
Shaykh Ibrahim." "O Commander of the Faithful," quoth Ja'afar,