and wandered in Kalandar garb about Allah's earth, and the Almighty
decreed safety for me till I arrived at Baghdad, which was on the
evening of this very night. Here I met these two other Kalandars
standing bewildered, so I saluted them saying, "I am a stranger!"
and they answered, "And we likewise be strangers!" By the freak of
Fortune we were like to like, three Kalandars and three monoculars all
blind of the left eye.
Such, O my lady, is the cause of the shearing of my beard and the
manner of my losing an eye. Said the lady to him, "Rub thy head and
wend thy ways," but he answered, "By Allah, I will not go until I hear
the stories of these others." Then the lady, turning toward the Caliph
and Ja'afar and Masrur, said to them, "Do ye also give an account of
yourselves, you men!" Whereupon Ja'afar stood forth and told her
what he had told the portress as they were entering the house, and
when she heard his story of their being merchants and Mosul men who
had outrun the watch, she said, "I grant you your lives each for
each sake, and now away with you all." So they all went out, and
when they were in the street, quoth the Caliph to the Kalandars, "O
company, whither go ye now, seeing that the morning hath not yet
dawned?" Quoth they, "By Allah, O our lord, we know not where to
go.
Pages:
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206