Verily, O King, my tale is a rare and it is e'en as follows:--I
had a mother of whose flocks the World had left her but a single
kid, and we owned ne'er another. Presently we determined to sell
it; and, having so done, we bought it with its price a young
calf, which we brought up for a whole year till it grew fat and
full-sized. Then my mother said to me, "Take yon calf and go sell
it;" so I went forth with it to the Bazar, and I saw that not one
was like it, when behold, a body of vagabonds,[FN#325] who
numbered some forty, looked at the beast, and it pleased them; so
they said one to other, "Let us carry this away and cut its
throat and flay it." Then one of them, as all were standing afar
off, came near me and said, "O youth, wilt thou sell this kid?"
and quoth I, "O my uncle, verily this is a calf and not a kid;"
and the other rejoined, "Art thou blind? This is a kid." Cried I,
"A calf!" So he asked, "Wilt thou take from me a dollar?"[FN#326]
and I answered, "Nay, O my uncle!" Thereupon he went away from
me, and another came after him and said, "O youth, wilt thou sell
this kid?" and said I, "This is a calf," and quoth he "This is a
kid," and reviled me the while I held my peace. Again quoth he,
"Wilt thou take for this a dollar?" but I was not satisfied
therewith, and they ceased not to wrangle with me, one after
other, each coming up and saying, "O youth, wilt thou sell this
kid?" At last their Shaykh[FN#327] accosted me and cried, "Wilt
thou sell it?" and I rejoined, "There is no Majesty save in
Allah! I will sell it on one condition, to wit, that I take from
thee its tail." Replied to me[FN#328] the Shaykh of the
Vagabonds, "Thou shalt take the tail when we have slaughtered
it;" then, paying me a dollar, he led off the beast, and returned
to his own folk. Presently they killed it and flayed it, when I