Dinarzade awaked at the usual hour, and calling to the sultaness,
says, Dear sister, if you be not asleep, I pray you, until it be
day, to satisfy my curiosity; I am impatient to hear the story of
the old man and the two black dogs. The sultan consented to it
with pleasure, being no less desirous to know the story than
Dinarzade; and Scheherazade continued it as follows.
THE STORY OF THE SECOND OLD MAN AND THE
TWO BLACK DOGS.
Great prince of genies, says the old man, you must know that we
are three brothers, I and the two black dogs you see: Our father
left each of us, when he died, one thousand sequins; with that
sum we all entered into the same way of living, and became
merchants. A little time after we had opened shop, my eldest
brother, one of these two dogs, resolved to travel and trade in
foreign countries. Upon this design, he sold his estate, and
bought goods proper for the trade he intended.
He went away, and was absent a whole year; at the end of which, a
poor man, who, I thought, had come to ask alms, presented himself
before me in my shop. I said to him, God help you. God help you
also, answered he, is it possible you do not know me? Upon this,
I looked to him narrowly, and knew him. Ah, my brother! cried I,
embracing him, how could I know you in this condition? I made him
come into my house, and asked him concerning his health, and the
success of his travels.
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