and cried to me, "Such-an-one!" "Well?" said I, and he rejoined,
"What is that thou hast with thee?" So I acquainted him with the
case and he took the head from me. Then we fared on till we came
to the river, where he washed the head and considering it
straitly, exclaimed, "By Allah, verily this be my brother, the
son of my sire, and he used to spunge upon the folk;" after which
he threw that head into the river. As for me, I was like a dead
man for dread; but he said to me, "Fear not, neither do thou
grieve, for I acquit thee of my brother's blood." Presently, he
took my clothes and washed them and dried them and put them on
me; after which he said to me, "Get thee gone to thy house." So I
returned to my house and he accompanied me, till I came thither,
when he said to me, "Allah never desolate thee! I am thy friend
Such-an-one, who used to take of thee goods on credit, and I owe
thee a kindness; but henceforward thou wilt never see me more."
Then he went his ways. The company marvelled at the manliness of
this man and his clemency[FN#121] and courtesy, and the Sultan
said, "Tell us another of thy stories, O Shahrazad."[FN#122] She
replied, " 'Tis well! They set forth[FN#123]




A Merry Jest of a Clever Thief.



A thief of the thieves of the Arabs went one night to a certain
man's house, to steal from a heap of wheat there, and the people
of the house surprised him. Now on the heap was a great copper