第58章

Therewith he opened the basket and threw the fish before the Jew who admired it and said，'By the Pentateuch and the Ten Commandments，[203] I dreamt last night that the Virgin came to me and said，'Know，O Abu al-Sa'adat，that I have sent thee a pretty present！'and doubtless'tis this fish.'Then he turned to Khalifah and said to him，'By thy faith，hath any seen it but I？'Khalifah replied，'No by Allah and by Abu Bakr the Viridical，[204] none hath seen it save thou，O chief of the Jews！'Whereupon the Jew turned to one of his lads and said to him，'Come，carry this fish to my house and bid Sa'adah [205]

dress it and fry and broil it，against I make an end of my business and hie me home.'And Khalifah said，'Go，O my lad；let the master's wife fry some of it and broil the rest.'Answered the boy，'I hear and I obey，O my lord'and，taking the fish；went away with it to the house.Then the Jew put out his hand and gave Khalifah the fisherman a dinar，saying，'Take this for thyself，O Khalifah，and spend it on thy family.'When Khalifah saw the dinar on his palm，he took it，saying，'Laud to the Lord of Dominion！'as if he had never seen aught of gold in his life；

and went somewhat away；but，before he had gone far，he was minded of the ape's charge and turning back threw down the ducat；saying，'Take thy gold and give folk back their fish！ Dost thou make a laughing stock of folk？ The Jew hearing this thought he was jesting and offered him two dinars upon the other，but Khalifah said，'Give me the fish and no nonsense.How knewest thou I would sell it at this price？'Whereupon the Jew gave him two more dinars and said，'Take these five ducats for thy fish and leave greed.'So Khalifah hent the five dinars in hand and went away，rejoicing，and gazing and marvelling at the gold and saying，'Glory be to God！ There is not with the Caliph of Baghdad what is with me this day！'Then he ceased not faring on till he came to the end of the market-street，when he remembered the words of the ape and his charge，and returning to the Jew；threw him back the gold.Quoth he，'What aileth thee，O Khalifah？ Dost thou want silver in exchange for gold？'Khalifah replied；'I want nor dirhams nor dinars.I only want thee to give me back folk's fish.'With this the Jew waxed wroth and shouted out at him，saying，'O fisherman，thou bringest me a fish not worth a sequin and I give thee five for it；yet art thou not content！ Art thou Jinn-mad？ Tell me for how much thou wilt sell it.'Answered Khalifah，'I will not sell it for silver nor for gold，only for two sayings [206] thou shalt say me.'When the Jew heard speak of the'Two Sayings，'his eyes sank into his head，he breathed hard and ground his teeth for rage and said to him，'O nail-paring of the Moslems，wilt thou have me throw off my faith for the sake of thy fish，and wilt thou debauch me from my religion and stultify my belief and my conviction which I

inherited of old from my forbears？'Then he cried out to the servants who were in waiting and said，'Out on you！ Bash me this unlucky rogue's neck and bastinado him soundly！'So they came down upon him with blows and ceased not beating him till he fell beneath the shop，and the Jew said to them，'Leave him and let him rise.'Whereupon Khalifah jumped up，as if naught ailed him；and the Jew said to him，'Tell me what price thou asketh for this fish and I will give it thee： for thou hast gotten but scant good of us this day.'Answered the Fisherman，'Have no fear for me，O master，because of the beating；for I can eat ten donkeys'rations of stick.'The Jew laughed at his words and said，'Allah upon thee，tell me what thou wilt have and by the right of my Faith，I will give it thee！'The Fisherman replied，'Naught from thee will remunerate me for this fish save the two words whereof I spake.'And the Jew said，'Meseemeth thou wouldst have me become a Moslem？'[207]Khalifah rejoined，'By Allah，O Jew；an thou islamise'twill nor advantage the Moslems nor damage the Jews；and in like manner，an thou hold to thy misbelief'twill nor damage the Moslems nor advantage the Jews.But what I desire of thee is that thou rise to thy feet and say，'Bear witness against me，O people of the market，that I barter my ape for the ape of Khalifah the Fisherman and my lot in the world for his lot and my luck for his luck.''Quoth the Jew，'If this be all thou desirest'twill sit lightly upon me.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Eight Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night； She resumed，It hath reached me，O auspicious King，that the Jew said to Khalifah the Fisherman，'If this be all thou desirest；'twill sit lightly upon me.'So he rose without stay or delay and standing on his feet，repeated the required words；after which he turned to the Fisherman and asked him，'Hast thou aught else to ask of me？''No，'answered he，and the Jew said，'Go in peace！'Hearing this Khalifah sprung to his feet forthright；

took up his basket and net and returned straight to the Tigris；where he threw his net and pulled it in.He found it heavy and brought it not ashore but with travail，when he found it full of fish of all kinds.Presently，up came a woman with a dish，who gave me a dinar，and he gave her fish for it；and after her an eunuch，who also bought a dinar's worth of fish，and so forth till he had sold ten dinars'worth.And he continued to sell ten dinars'worth of fish daily for ten days，till he had gotten an hundred dinars.