They landed, and one of his Mamelukes, seeing
a sack on the beach, said to Abu Sir: "O my lord, there is a great
heavy sack on the seashore, with the mouth tied up, and I know not
what therein."
So Abu Sir came up, and opening the sack, found therein the
remains of Abu Kir, which the sea had borne thither. He took it forth,
and burying it near Alexandria, built over the grave a place of
visitation. After this Abu Sir abode awhile, till Allah took him to
Himself, and they buried him hard by the tomb of his comrade Abu
Kir, wherefore that place was called Abu Kir and Abu Sir, but it is
now known as Abu Kir only. This, then, is that which hath reached us
of their history, and glory be to Him Who endureth forever and aye and
by Whose will enterchange the night and the day.
And of the stories they tell is one anent
THE SLEEPER AND THE WAKER
IT hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was once at
Baghdad, in the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid, a man and a merchant who
had a son Abu al-Hasan al-Khali'a by name. The merchant died leaving
great store of wealth to his heir, who divided it into two equal
parts, whereof he laid up one and spent of the other half.
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