صفحة 293 من 1116

So they questioned the man but he replied, "By the All might of

Allah, in love all are alike![FN#185] I am the growth of Baghdad,

yet never in my born days did I darken these doors till to day

and my companying with them was a curious matter." "By Allah,"

they rejoined, "we took thee for one of them and now we see thou

art one like ourselves." Then said the Caliph, "We be seven men,

and they only three women without even a fourth to help them; so

let us question them of their case; and, if they answer us not,

fain we will be answered by force." All of them agreed to this

except Ja'afar who said,[FN#186] "This is not my recking; let

them be; for we are their guests and, as ye know, they made a

compact and condition with us which we accepted and promised to

keep: wherefore it is better that we be silent concerning this

matter; and, as but little of the night remaineth, let each and

every of us gang his own gait." Then he winked at the Caliph and

whispered to him, "There is but one hour of darkness left and I

can bring them before thee to morrow, when thou canst freely

question them all concerning their story." But the Caliph raised

his head haughtily and cried out at him in wrath, saying, "I have

no patience left for my longing to hear of them: let the

Kalandars question them forthright." Quoth Ja'afar, "This is not

my rede." Then words ran high and talk answered talk, and they

disputed as to who should first put the question, but at last all

fixed upon the Porter.