" Then the slaves laid the
treasure in chests, which they set on their heads, and Aboul
Muzeffer gave me the keys of the chests, saying, "Go before the
slaves to thy house; for all this wealth is thine." So I returned
to my mother, who rejoiced in this and said to me, "O my son, God
hath blessed thee with this much wealth; so put off thy laziness
and go down to the bazaar and sell and buy." So I shook off my
sloth, and opened a shop in the bazaar, where the ape used to sit
on the same divan with me, eating with me when I ate and drinking
when I drank. But, every day, he was absent from daybreak till
noon-day, when he came back, bringing with him a purse of a
thousand diners, which he laid by my side, and sat down. Thus did
he a great while, till I amassed much wealth, wherewith I bought
houses and lands and planted gardens and got me slaves, black and
white and male and female.
One day, as I sat in my shop, with the ape at my side, he began
to turn right and left, and I said in myself, "What ails the
beast?" Then God made the ape speak with a glib tongue, and he
said to me, "O Abou Mohammed!" When I heard him speak, I was sore
afraid; but he said to me, "Fear not; I will tell thee my case.
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