Pagina 793 di 1116

Now the time waxed strait and my heart straitened with it; so I

said to him, "Take it all and finish shaving my head by the life

of Mohammed (whom Allah bless and keep!)." "By Allah," said he,

"I will not take it till I see all that is in it." So I bade the

page open the box and the Barber laid down the astrolabe, leaving

the greater part of my head unpolled; and, sitting on the ground,

turned over the scents and incense and aloes wood and essences

till I was well nigh distraught. Then he took the razor and

coming up to me shaved off some few hairs and repeated these

lines:-

"The boy like his father shall surely show, * As the tree from

its parent root shall grow."[FN#620]