Pagina 759 de 1116

I had no money by me now; so Satan whispered temptation to me

that the Decree of Destiny be carried out. Next day I took the

jewelled necklace to the bazar and handed it to a broker who made

me sit down in the shop of the jeweller, my landlord, and bade me

have patience till the market was full,[FN#594] when he carried

off the ornament and proclaimed it for sale, privily and without

my knowledge. The necklet was priced as worth two thousand

dinars, but the broker returned to me and said, "This collar is

of copper, a mere counterfeit after the fashion of the

Franks[FN#595] and a thousand dirhams have been bidden for it."

"Yes," I answered, "I knew it to be copper, as we had it made for

a certain person that we might mock her: now my wife hath

inherited it and we wish to sell it; so go and take over the

thousand dirhams."-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and

ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Twenty-ninth Night,