पृष्ठ 888 / 1116

When the Caliph heard my story and all I told him concerning my

brothers, he laughed and said, "Thou sayest sooth, O Silent Man!

thou art indeed spare of speech nor is there aught of forwardness

in thee; but now go forth out of this city and settle in some

other." And he banished me under edict. I left Baghdad and

travelled in foreign parts till I heard of his death and the

accession of another to the Caliphate. Then I returned to Baghdad

where I found all my brothers dead and chanced upon this young

man, to whom I rendered the kindliest service, for without me he

had surely been killed. Indeed he slanders me and accuses me of a

fault which is not in my nature; and what he reports concerning

impudence and meddling and forwardness is idle and false; for

verily on his account I left Baghdad and travelled about full

many a country till I came to this city and met him here in your

company. And was not this, O worthy assemblage, of the generosity

of my nature?

The End of the Tailor's Tale.