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was there in it any living soul, man nor genie. Then I saw a company of slave-girls and amongst them a young lady riding in state.’ And he went on to tell him all he had seen. ‘O my son,’ said the barber, ‘hast thou told any but me of this?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ ‘Then, O my son,’ rejoined the barber, ‘beware of mentioning this before any but me; for all cannot keep a secret and thou art but a lad and I fear lest the talk travel from folk to folk, till it reach those whom it concerns and they kill thee. For know, O my son, that this thou hast seen, none ever heard nor knew in other than this city. As for the people of Bassora, they are dying of this vexation; for every Friday forenoon they shut up the dogs and cats, to hinder them from going about the streets, and all the people of the city enter the mosques, where they lock the doors on them, and not one of them can pass about the market nor even look out of window; nor knoweth any the cause of this calamity. But to-night I will question my wife of it, for she is a midwife and enters the houses of the notables and knows all the news of the city. And if it please God the Most High, do thou come to me to-morrow and I will tell thee what she shall have told me.’
With this Kemerezzeman pulled out a handful of gold and said to him, ‘O my father, take this gold and give it to thy wife, for she is become my mother.’ Then he gave him a second handful, saying ‘Take this for thyself.’ Whereupon quoth the barber, ‘O my son, sit thou in thy place, till I go to my wife and ask her and bring thee news of the true state of the case.’ So saying, he left him in the shop and going home, acquainted his wife with the young man’s case, saying, ‘I would have thee tell me the truth of this affair, so I may tell it to this young merchant, for he hath set his heart on knowing the reason why men and beasts are forbidden the streets every Friday forenoon; and methinks he is in love, for he is open-handed and
