have no claim on me. Dun him yourselves, and if he pay you not,
complain of him to the King of the city, saying:--He is an
impostor who hath imposed upon us. And he will deliver you from
the plague of him." Accordingly, they repaired to the King and
told him what had passed, saying, "O King of the age, we are
perplexed anent this merchant, whose generosity is excessive; for
he doeth thus and thus, and all he borroweth, he giveth away to
the poor by handsful. Were he a man of naught, his sense would
not suffer him to lavish gold on this wise; and were he a man of
wealth, his good faith had been made manifest to us by the coming
of his baggage; but we see none of his luggage, although he
avoucheth that he hath baggage-train and hath preceded it. Now
some time hath past, but there appeareth no sign of his
baggage-train, and he oweth us sixty thousand gold pieces, all of
which he hath given away in alms." And they went on to praise him
and extol his generosity. Now this King was a very covetous man,
a more covetous than Ash'ab[FN#43]; and when he heard tell of
Ma'aruf's generosity and openhandedness, greed of gain got the
better of him and he said to his Wazir, "Were not this merchant a
man of immense wealth, he had not shown all this munificence. His
baggage-train will assuredly come, whereupon these merchants will
flock to him and he will scatter amongst them riches galore. Now
I have more right to this money than they; wherefore I have a
mind to make friends with him and profess affection for him, so
that, when his baggage cometh whatso the merchants would have had
I shall get of him; and I will give him my daughter to wife and
join his wealth to my wealth." Replied the Wazir, "O King of the
age, methinks he is naught but an impostor, and 'tis the impostor
who ruineth the house of the covetous;"--And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.