and went away.[FN#90] Then he again began to pay me frequent
visits and I entered into conversation with him and questioned
him of the band and how he came to escape, he alone of them all.
He replied "I left them from the day on which Allah the Most High
delivered thee from them, for that they would not obey my say; so
I sware I would no longer consort with them." Quoth I, "By Allah,
I marvel at thee, for that assuredly thou wast the cause of my
preservation!" Quoth he, "The world is full of this sort; and we
beseech the Almighty to send us safety, for that these wretches
practice upon men with every kind of malpractice." Then I said to
him, "Tell me the rarest adventure of all that befel thee in this
villainy thou wast wont to work." And he answered, "O my brother,
I was not present when they did such deeds, for that my part with
them was to concern myself with selling and buying and feeding
them; but it hath reached me that the rarest thing which befel
them was on this wise."




The Thief's Tale.



The woman who acted decoy for them and trapped their game and
used to inveigle damsels from marriage-banquets, once caught them
a woman from a bride-feast, under pretence that she had a wedding
in her own house, and fixed for her a day when she should come to
her. As soon as the appointed time arrived, the woman presented
herself and the other carried her into the house by a door,