When it was the Eight Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Ibn al-Kirnas read the letter and knew its import, he kissed it and laid it on his head; then he arose and said to Khalifah, "O my brother, where is thy house?" Asked Khalifah, "What wantest thou with my house? Wilt thou go thither and steal my slave-girl?" Then Ibn al-Kirnas answered, "No so: on the contrary, I will buy thee somewhat whereof you may eat, thou and she." So he said, "My house is in such a quarter;" and the merchant rejoined, "Thou hast done well. May Allah not give thee health, O unlucky one!" [FN#253] Then he called out to two of his slaves and said to them, "Carry this man to the shop of Mohsin the Shroff and say to him, ‘ O Mohsin, give this man a thousand
