hither." Quoth we, "Show us the stuffs;" upon which he carried us
to a place wherein was a pit, beside the waterwheel, and digging
there, brought out the stolen goods with not a thread or a stitch
of them missing. So we took them and carried the keeper to the
Prefecture of Police where we stripped him and beat him with
palm-rods till he confessed to thefts manifold. Now I did this by
way of mockery against my comrades, and it succeeded. The company
marvelled at this story with the utmost marvelling, and the
eleventh constable rose and said, "I know a story yet stranger
than this: but it happened not to myself."




The Eleventh Constable's History.



There was once in times of yore a Chief Officer of Police and
there passed by him one day of the days a Jew, hending in hand a
basket wherein were five thousand dinars; whereupon quoth that
officer to one of his slaves, "Art able to take that money from
yonder Jew's basket?" "Yes," quoth he, nor did he tarry beyond
the next day ere he came to his lord, bringing the basket. "So"
(said the officer) "I bade him 'Go, bury it in such a place;'
whereupon he went and buried it and returned and told me. Hardly
had he reported this when there arose a clamour like that of
Doomsday and up came the Jew, with one of the King's officers,
declaring that the gold pieces belonged to the Sultan and that he
looked to none but us for it. We demanded of him three days'