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[Footnote 245] Lit. a better theologian. The Muslim law being entirely based on the Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet, the terms “lawyer” and “theologian” are necessarily synonymous among Mohammedan peoples.

When the tither heard the old man’s speech, he relented towards him and said to him, ‘O old man, I make thee a present of that which is due from thee, and do thou cleave to me and leave me not, so haply I may get of thee profit that shall do away from me my errors and guide me into the way of righteousness.’ So the old man followed him, and there met him another with a load of wood. Quoth the tither to him, ‘Pay what is due from thee.’ And he answered, ‘Have patience with me till to-morrow, for I owe the hire of a house, and I will sell another load of wood and pay thee two days’ tithe.’ But he refused him this and the old man said to him, ‘If thou constrain him unto this, thou wilt enforce him quit thy country, for that he is a stranger here and hath no domicile; and if he remove on account of one dirhem, thou wilt lose [of him] three hundred and threescore dirhems a year. Thus wilt thou lose the much in keeping the little.’ Quoth the tither, ‘I give him a dirhem every month to the hire of his lodging.’

Then he went on and presently there met him a third woodcutter and he said to him, ‘Pay what is due from thee.’ And he answered, ‘I will pay thee a dirhem when I enter the city; or take of me four danics[246] [now].’ Quoth the tither, ‘I will not do it,’ but the old man said to him, ‘Take of him the four danics presently, for it is easy to take and hard to restore.’ ‘By Allah,’ quoth the tither, ‘it is good!’ and he arose and went on, crying out, at the top of his voice and saying, ‘I have no power to-day [to do evil].’ Then he put off his clothes and went forth wandering at a venture, repenting unto his Lord. Nor,” added the vizier, “is this story more extraordinary than that of the thief who believed the woman and sought refuge with God against falling in with her like, by reason of her cunning contrivance for herself.”

[Footnote 246] A danic is the sixth of a dirhem, i.e. about one penny.

When the king heard this, he said in himself, “Since the tither repented, in consequence of the admonitions [of the woodcutter], it behoves that I spare this vizier, so I may hear the story of the thief and the woman.” And he bade Er Rehwan withdraw to his lodging.

The Eleventh Night of the Month.

When the evening came and the king sat in his privy chamber, he summoned the vizier and required of him the story of the thief and the woman. Quoth the vizier, “Know, O king, that

STORY OF THE THIEF AND THE WOMAN.

A certain thief was a [cunning] workman and used not to steal aught, till he had spent all that was with him; moreover, he stole not from his neighbours, neither companied with any of the thieves, lest some one should come to know him and his case get wind. On this wise he abode a great while, in flourishing case, and his secret was concealed, till God the Most High decreed that he broke in upon a poor man, deeming that he was rich. When he entered the house, he found nought, whereat he was wroth, and necessity prompted him to wake the man, who was asleep with his wife. So he aroused him and said to him, ‘Show me thy treasure.’