one] son of such an one?' 'Yes,' answered he; whereupon they
condoled with him and wept sore for him and said to him, 'Abide
here till we dive for thy luck this next time and whatsoever
betideth us shall be between us and thee.' Accordingly, they
dived and brought up ten oysters, in each two great pearls;
whereat they marvelled and said to him, 'By Allah, thy luck hath
returned and thy good star is in the ascendant!' Then they gave
him ten pearls and said to him, 'Sell two of them and make them
thy capital [whereon to trade]; and hide the rest against the
time of thy straitness.' So he took them, joyful and contented,
and addressed himself to sew eight of them in his gown, keeping
the two others in his mouth; but a thief saw him and went and
advertised his mates of him; whereupon they gathered together
upon him and took his gown and departed from him. When they were
gone away, he arose, saying, 'These two pearls [in my mouth] will
suffice me,' and made for the [nearest] city, where he brought
out the pearls [and repairing to the jewel- market, gave them to
the broker], that he might sell them.

Now, as destiny would have it, a certain jeweller of the town had
been robbed of ten pearls, like unto those which were with the
merchant; so, when he saw the two pearls in the broker's hand, he
said to him, 'To whom do these pearls belong?' and the broker
answered, 'To yonder man.' [The jeweller looked at the merchant
and] seeing him in sorry case and clad in tattered clothes,
misdoubted of him and said to him (purposing to surprise him into
confession), 'Where are the other eight pearls?' The merchant
thought he asked him of those which were in the gown and
answered, 'The thieves stole them from me.' When the jeweller
heard his reply, he doubted not but that it was he who had taken