Pagina 806 di 1116

Now I carried in my sleeve much gold and some silver, which I had

provided for an ill day like this and the like of such occasion;

so I kept scattering it amongst the folk to divert their

attention from me and, whilst they were busy scrambling for it, I

set off, hopping as fast as I could, through the by streets of

Baghdad, shifting and turning right and left. But whithersoever I

went this damned Barber would go in after me, crying aloud, "They

would have bereft me of my maa-a-ster! They would have slain him

who was a benefactor to me and my family and my friends! Praised

be Allah who made me prevail against them and delivered my lord

from their hands!" Then to me, "Where wilt thou go now? Thou

wouldst persist in following thine own evil devices, till thou

broughtest thyself to this ill pass; and, had not Allah

vouchsafed me to thee, ne'er hadst thou escaped this strait into

which thou hast fallen, for they would have cast thee into a

calamity whence thou never couldest have won free.