And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken
compassion on him, and continued in this condition, suffering
fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself: "I wrought him a
weal and he requited me with my ill. By Allah, never more will I do
any man a service so long as I live!" And again and again I besought
the Most High that I might die, for stress of weariness and misery.
And thus I abode a long while till one day I came with him to a
place wherein was abundance of gourds, many of them dry. So I took a
great dry gourd and cutting open the head, scooped out the inside
and cleaned it, after which I gathered grapes from a vine which grew
hard by and squeezed them into the gourd till it was full of the
juice. Then I stopped up the mouth and set it in the sun, where I left
it for some days until it became strong wine, and every day I used
to drink of it, to comfort and sustain me under my fatigues with
that froward and obstinate fiend. And as often as I drank myself
drunk, I forgot my troubles and took new heart. One day he saw me
and signed to me with his hand, as who should say, "What is that?"
Quoth I, "It is an excellent cordial, which cheereth the heart and
reviveth the spirits.
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