him tell the story of the King of Hind and his vizier. So he
said, "Hearkening and obedience. Know, O king of august lineage,
that





STORY OF THE KING OF HIND AND HIS VIZIER.



There was once in the land of Hind a king of illustrious station,
endowed with understanding and good sense, and his name was Shah
Bekht. He had a vizier, a man of worth and intelligence, prudent
in counsel, conformable to him in his governance and just in his
judgment; wherefore his enviers were many and many were the
hypocrites, who sought in him faults and set snares for him, so
that they insinuated into King Shah Bekht's eye hatred and
rancour against him and sowed despite against him in his heart;
and plot followed after plot, till [at last] the king was brought
to arrest him and lay him in prison and confiscate his good and
avoid his estate.[FN#77]

When they knew that there was left him no estate that the king
might covet, they feared lest he be brought to release him, by
the incidence of the vizier's [good] counsel upon the king's
heart, and he return to his former case, so should their plots be
marred and their ranks degraded, for that they knew that the king
would have need of that which he had known from that man nor