hundred dirhems[FN#47] for five thousand and five hundred.[FN#48]
His friends blamed him and a company of the folk laughed at him
and marvelled at his folly and his credulity in accepting the
sharpers' talk, without suspicion, and meddling with that which
he understood not and thrusting himself into that whereof he was
not assured.

On this wise, O King Shah Bekht," continued the vizier, "is the
issue of eagerness for [the goods of] the world and covetise of
that which our knowledge embraceth not; indeed, [whoso doth thus]
shall perish and repent Nor, O king of the age, (added he) is
this story more extraordinary than that of the sharper and the
merchants."

When the king heard this story, he said in himself, "Verily, had
I given ear to the sayings of my courtiers and inclined to the
idle prate [of those who counselled me] in the matter of [the
slaying of] my vizier, I had repented to the utterest of
repentance, but praised be God, who hath disposed me to
mansuetude and long-suffering and hath endowed me with patience!"
Then he turned to the vizier and bade him return to his dwelling
and [dismissed] those who were present, as of wont.

The Twenty-Third Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the king sent after the vizier and when
he presented himself before him, he required of him the hearing
of the [promised] story. So he said, "Hearkening and obedience.
Know, O illustrious lord, that