But
after a fashion I am consoled by the sight of Aladdin, the legacy
bequeathed to us by him who hath found mercy for that 'whoso leaveth
issue is not wholly dead.'"
And when he looked at his sister-in-law, she wept at these his
words, so he turned to the lad, that he might cause her to forget
the mention of her mate, as a means of comforting her and also of
completing his deceit, and asked him, saying: "O my son Aladdin, what
hast thou learned in the way of work, and what is thy business? Say
me, hast thou mastered any craft whereby to earn a livelihood for
thyself and for thy mother?" The lad was abashed and put to shame
and he hung down his head and bowed his brow groundward. But his
parent spake out: "How, forsooth? By Allah, he knoweth nothing at all,
a child so ungracious as this I never yet saw- no, never! All the day
long he idleth away his time with the sons of the quarter, vagabonds
like himself, and his father (O regret of me!) died not save of
dolor for him. And I also am now in piteous plight. I spin cotton
and toil at my distant night and day, that I may earn me a couple of
scones of bread which we eat together.
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