Then I gave the scroll to the officials, and after we all had
written our line, they carried it before the King. When he saw the
paper, no writing pleased him save my writing, and he said to the
assembled courtiers: "Go seek the writer of these lines and dress
him in a splendid robe of honor. Then mount him on a she-mule, let a
band of music precede him, and bring him to the presence." At these
words they smiled and the King was wroth with them and cried "O
accursed! I give you an order and you laugh at me?" "O King,"
replied they, "if we laugh 'tis not at thee and not without a
cause." "And what is it?" asked he, and they answered, "O King, thou
orderest us to bring to thy presence the man who wrote these lines.
Now the truth is that he who wrote them is not of the sons of Adam,
but an ape, a tailless baboon, belonging to the ship Captain." Quoth
he, "Is this true that you say?" Quoth they, "Yea! by the rights of
thy munificence!" The King marveled at their words and shook with
mirth and said, "I am minded to buy this ape of the Captain."
Then he sent messengers to the ship with the mule, the dress, the
guard, and the state drums, saying, "Not the less do you clothe him in
the robe of honor and mount him on the mule, and let him be surrounded
by the guards and preceded by the band of music.
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