When it was the Three Hundred and Third Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Mohammed Lazybones continued: "So I alighted and, saluting him, seated myself beside him, and my Mamelukes and n***o-slaves stood before me. Said the Sharif, 'Haply, thou hast some business with us which we may have pleasure of transacting?' Replied I, 'Yes, I have business with thee.' Asked he, 'And what is it?'; and I answered, 'I come to thee as a suitor for thy daughter's hand.' So he said, 'Thou hast neither cash nor rank nor family;' whereupon I pulled him out a purse of a thousand dinars, red gold, and said to him, 'This is my rank[FN#235] and my family; and he (whom Allah bless and keep!) hath said, The best of ranks is wealth. And how well quoth the poet,
'Whoso two dithams h
