" Replied he, "I won't, for by Allah, I fear she throw me," and
quoth Ibn al-Kirnas, "By God, needs must thou mount." So he came up,
and mounting her, face to crupper, caught hold of her tail and cried
out, whereupon she threw him on the ground and they laughed at him.
But he rose and said, "Did I not tell thee I would not mount this
great jenny-ass?" Thereupon Ibn al-Kirnas left him in the market,
and repairing to the Caliph, told him of the damsel, after which he
returned and removed her to his own house.
Meanwhile Khalifah went home to look after the handmaid and found
the people of the quarter forgathering and saying: "Verily, Khalifah
is today in a terrible pickle! Would we knew whence he can have gotten
this damsel!" Quoth one of them: "He is a mad pimp. Haply he found her
lying on the road drunken, and carried her to his own house, and his
absence showeth that he knoweth his offense." As they were talking,
behold, up came Khalifah, and they said to him: "What a plight is
thine, O unhappy! Knowest thou not what is come to thee?" He
replied, "No, by Allah!" and they said: "But just now there came
Mamelukes and took away thy slave girl whom thou stolest, and sought
for thee, but found thee not.
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