THE EIGHTH OFFICER'S STORY.



A friend of mine once invited me to an entertainment; so I went
with him, and when we came into his house and sat down on his
couch, he said to me, "This is a blessed day and a day of
gladness, and [blessed is] he who liveth to [see] the like of
this day. I desire that thou practise with us and deny[FN#124] us
not, for that thou hast been used to hearken unto those who
occupy themselves with this."[FN#125] I fell in with this and
their talk happened upon the like of this subject.[FN#126]
Presently, my friend, who had invited me, arose from among them
and said to them, "Hearken to me and I will tell you of an
adventure that happened to me. There was a certain man who used
to visit me in my shop, and I knew him not nor he me, nor ever in
his life had he seen me; but he was wont, whenever he had need of
a dirhem or two, by way of loan, to come to me and ask me,
without acquaintance or intermediary between me and him, [and I
would give him what he sought]. I told none of him, and matters
abode thus between us a long while, till he fell to borrowing ten
at twenty dirhems [at a time], more or less.

One day, as I stood in my shop, there came up to me a woman and
stopped before me; and she as she were the full moon rising from
among the stars, and the place was illumined by her light. When I
saw her, I fixed my eyes on her and stared in her face; and she