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Then the Caliph gave ear to

The Barber's Tale of his Fifth Brother.

My fifth brother, Al-Nashshar,[FN#659] the Babbler, the same who

was cropped of both ears, O Commander of the Faithful, was an

asker wont to beg of folk by night and live on their alms by day.

Now when our father, who was an old man well stricken in years

sickened and died, he left us seven hundred dirhams whereof each

son took his hundred; but, as my fifth brother received his

portion, he was perplexed and knew not what to do with it. While

in this uncertainty he bethought him to lay it out on glass ware

of all sorts and turn an honest penny on its price. So he bought

an hundred dirhams worth of verroterie and, putting it into a big

tray, sat down to sell it on a bench at the foot of a wall

against which he leant back. As he sat with the tray before him

he fell to musing and said to himself, "Know, O my good Self,

that the head of my wealth, my principal invested in this glass

ware, is an hundred dirhams.