garden to-night and, if he see thee, thy neck is gone." At this
the Caliph laughed and Ja'afar recognized him and asked, "Can it
be thou, our lord the Sultan?"; and he answered, "Yes, O Ja'afar,
and thou art my Wazir and I and thou came hither together; yet
thou knowest me not; so how should Shaykh Ibrahim know me, and he
drunk? Stay here, till I came back to thee." "To hear is to
obey," said Ja'afar. Then the Caliph went up to the door of the
pavilion and knocked a gentle knock, whereupon said Nur al-Din,"
O Shaykh Ibrahim, some one taps at the door." "Who goes there?"
cried the Shaykh and the Caliph replied, "It is I, O Shaykh
Ibrahim!" "Who art thou," quoth he, and quoth the other, "I am
Karim the fisherman: I hear thou hast a feast, so I have brought
thee some fish, and of a truth 'tis good fish." When Nur al-Din
heard the mention of fish, he was glad, he and the damsel, and
they both said to the Shaykh, "O our lord, open the door and let
him bring us his fish." So Shaykh Ibrahim opened and the Caliph
came in (and he in fisherman guise), and began by saluting them.
Said Shaykh Ibrahim, "Welcome to the blackguard, the robber, the
dicer! Let us see thy fish." So the Caliph showed them his
catch and behold, the fishes were still alive and jumping,
whereupon the damsel exclaimed, "By Allah! O my lord, these are
indeed fine fish: would they were fried!" and Shaykh Ibrahim
rejoined, "By Allah, O my lady, thou art right." Then said he to
the Caliph, "O fisherman, why didst thou not bring us the fish
ready fried? Up now and cook them and bring them back to us."
"On my head be thy commands!" said the Caliph, "I will fry thee a
dish and bring it." Said they, "Look sharp." Thereupon he went
and ran till he came up to Ja'afar when he called to him, "Hallo,
Ja'afar!"; and he replied, "Here am I, O Commander of the
Faithful, is all well?" "They want the fish fried," said the