" When Ja'afar heard speak of the slave and the apple, he was
glad and put his hand into his child's pocket and drew out the apple
and knew it and rejoiced, saying, "O ready Dispeller of trouble!"
Then he bade them bring the slave and said to him, "Fie upon thee,
Rayhan! Whence haddest thou this apple?" "By Allah, O my master," he
replied, "though a he may get a man once off, yet may truth get him
off, and well off, again and again. I did not steal this apple from
thy palace nor from the gardens of the Commander of the Faithful.
The fact is that five days ago, as I was walking along one of the
alleys of this city, I saw some little ones at play and this apple
in hand of one of them. So I snatched it from him and beat him, and he
cried and said, 'O youth, this apple is my mother's and she is ill.
She told my father how she longed for an apple, so he traveled to
Bassorah and bought her three apples for three gold pieces, and I took
one of them to play withal.' He wept again, but I paid no heed to what
he said and carried it off and brought it here, and my little lady
bought it of me for two dinars of gold.
Pages:
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238