So he said to Sandal, misliking his behavior, "O Eunuch, what would
yonder beggar with thee?" Sandal replied, "Dost thou not know him, O
my lord the Wazir?" and Ja'afar answered: "By Allah I know him not!
How should I know a man I have never seen but at this moment?"
Rejoined the Eunuch: "O my lord, this is the fisherman whose fish we
seized on the banks of the Tigris. I came too late to get any and
was ashamed to return to the Prince of True Believers emptyhanded when
all the Mamelukes had some. Presently I espied the fisherman
standing in midstream, calling on Allah, with four fishes in his
hands, and said to him, 'Give me what thou hast there and take their
worth.' He handed me the fish and I put my hand into my pocket,
purposing to gift him with somewhat, but found naught therein and
said, 'Come to me in the palace, and I will give thee wherewithal to
aid thee in thy poverty.' So he came to me today and I was putting
hand to pouch, that I might give him somewhat, when thou camest
forth and I rose to wait on thee and was diverted with thee from
him, till he grew tired of waiting. And this is the whole story how he
cometh to be standing here.
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