talking to himself after his large dose of Bhang. In such
condition he abode a while of time until one fine spring-night,
about the middle of the month when the moon was shining
sheeniest, he sat down to bespeak himself and said, "Ho,
Such-an-one! hie thee forth and solace thy soul with looking at
the world, for this be a time when none will espy thee and the
winds are still." Herewith he went forth intending for the river;
but as soon as he issued from his cell-door and trod upon the
square, he beheld the moonbeams bestrown upon the surface and,
for the excess of his Bhang, his Fancy said to him, "By Allah,
soothly the stream floweth strong and therein needs must be much
store of fish. Return, Such-an-one, to thy cell, bring hook and
line and cast them into these waters; haply Allah our Lord shall
vouchsafe thee somewhat of fish, for men say that by night the
fisherwight on mighty fine work shall alight." He presently
brought out his gear and, having baited the hook, made a cast
into the moonlit square, taking station in the shadow of the
walls where he believed the river bank to be. Then he
bobbed[FN#225] with his hook and line and kept gazing at the
waters, when behold! a big dog sniffed the bait and coming up to
it swallowed the hook till it stuck in his gullet.[FN#226] The
beast feeling it prick his throttle yelped with pain and made
more noise every minute, rushing about to the right and the left:
so the line was shaken in the man's hand and he drew it in, but
by so doing the hook pierced deeper and the brute howled all the
louder; and it was pull Bhang-eater and pull cur. But the man
dared not draw near the moonlight, holding it to be the river, so
he tucked up his gown to his hip-bones, and as the dog pulled
more lustily he said in his mind, "By Allah this must be a mighty
big fish and I believe it to be a ravenous."[FN#227] Then he