came to him according to his custom and saluted him. The merchant
returned his salute, but in ill-temper, and the other, seeing him
vexed, said, "O my lord, what hath crossed thee?" Thereupon Shams
al-Din told him all that occurred between himself and his wife,
adding, "These forty years have I been married to her yet hath
she borne me neither son nor daughter; and they say:--The cause
of thy failure to get her with child is the thinness of thy seed;
so I have been seeking a some thing wherewith to thicken my semen
but found it not." Quoth Shaykh Mohammed, "O my lord, I have a
seed-thickener, but what wilt thou say to him who causeth thy
wife to conceive by thee after these forty years have passed?"
Answered the merchant, "If thou do this, I will work thy
weal--and reward thee." "Then give me a dinar," rejoined the
broker, and Shams al-Din said, "Take these two dinars." He took
them and said, "Give me also yonder big bowl of porcelain." So he
gave it to him and the broker betook himself to a hashish-seller,
of whom he bought two ounces of concentrated Roumi opium and
equal-parts of Chinese cubebs, cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms,
ginger, white pepper and mountain skink[FN#29]; and, pounding
them all together, boiled them in sweet olive-oil; after which he
added three ounces of male frankincense in fragments and a cupful
of coriander-seed; and, macerating the whole, made it into an
electuary with Roumi bee honey. Then he put the confection in the
bowl and carried it to the merchant, to whom he delivered it,
saying, "Here is the seed-thickener, and the manner of using it
is this. Take of my electuary with a spoon after supping, and
wash it down with a sherbet made of rose conserve; but first sup
off mutton and house pigeon plentifully seasoned and hotly
spiced." So the merchant bought all this and sent the meat and
pigeons to his wife, saying, "Dress them deftly and lay up the