And this is the whole story."
When Ja'afar heard his words he marveled that the murder of the
damsel and all this misery should have been caused by his slave. He
grieved for the relation of the slave to himself while rejoicing
over his own deliverance, and he repeated these lines:
"If ill betide thee through thy slave,
Make him forthright thy sacrifice.
A many serviles thou shalt find,
But life comes once and never twice."
Then he took the slave's hand and, leading him to the Caliph,
related the story from first to last, and the Caliph marveled with
extreme astonishment, and laughed till he fell on his back, and
ordered that the story be recorded and be made public amongst the
people.
But Ja'afar said, "Marvel not, O Commander of the Faithful, at this
adventure, for it is not more wondrous than the History of the Wazir
Nur al-Din Ali of Egypt and his brother Shams al-Din Mohammed."
Quoth the Caliph, "Out with it, but what can be stranger than this
story?" And Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the Faithful, I will not
tell it thee save on condition that thou pardon my slave.
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