" Quoth Al-Rashid, "I will well," and quoth Khalifah: "Then
get off thy she-ass and tie her up, so she may serve us to carry the
fish hereafter, and come hither, that I may teach thee to fish
forthright."
So Al-Rashid alighted, and hobbling his mule, tucked his skirts into
his girdle, and Khalifah said to him, "O piper, lay hold of the net
thus and put it over thy forearm thus and cast it into the Tigris
thus." Accordingly the Caliph took heart of grace and, doing as the
fisherman showed him, threw the net and pulled at it, but could not
draw it up. So Khalifah came to his aid and tugged at it with him, but
the two together could not hale it up. Whereupon said the fisherman:
"O piper of ill-omen, for the first time I took thy gown in place of
my clothes, but this second time I will have thine ass and will beat
thee to boot till thou bepiss and beskit thyself, an I find my net
torn." Quoth Al-Rashid, "Let the twain of us pull at once." So they
both pulled together, and succeeded with difficulty in hauling that
net ashore, when they found it full of fish of all kinds and colors,
and Khalifah said to Al-Rashid: "By Allah, O piper, thou art foul of
favor but an thou apply thyself to fishing, thou wilt make a mighty
fine fisherman.
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