that I might hear them, and endeavour to act accordingly. Then that
person began to relate as follows, some of the adventures of _Hatim
Ta'i_. "That there lived in the time of _Hatim_, a king of Arabia,
named _Naufal_, who bore great enmity towards _Hatim_, on account of
his renown, and having assembled many troops, he went up to give him
battle. _Hatim_ was a God-fearing and good man; he thus conceived,
that, "If I likewise prepare for battle, then the creatures of God
will be slaughtered, and there will be much bloodshed; the punishment
of heaven for which will be recorded against my name." Reflecting on
this, he quite alone, taking merely his life with him, fled and hid
himself in a cave in the mountains. When the news of _Hatim's_ flight
reached _Naufal_, he confiscated all the property and dwellings of
_Hatim_, and proclaimed publicly, that whoever would look out for him
and seize him, should receive from the king's treasury five hundred
pieces of gold. On hearing this [proclamation], all became eager,
and began to make diligent search for _Hatim_.

"One day, an old man and his wife, taking two or three of their young
children with them, for the purpose of picking up wood, strayed near
the cave where _Hatim_ was concealed; and began to gather fuel in
that same forest. The old woman remarked, 'If our days had been at all
fortunate, we should have seen and found _Hatim_ somewhere or other,
and seizing him, we should have carried him to _Naufal_; then he would
give us five hundred pieces of gold, and we should live comfortably,
and be released from this toil and care,' The old woodman said,
'What art thou prating about? it was decreed in our fate, that we
should pick up wood every day, place it on our heads, and sell it in
the _bazar_, and [with its produce] procure bread and salt; or one
day the tiger of the woods will carry us off: peace, mind thy work;
why should _Hatim_ fall into our hands, and the king give us so much