taking thought about my supper." Thereupon the Steward asked,
"Must it be so?"; and he answered, "It must." So the honest man
went his way and Nur al-Din Ali devoted himself to extravagance;
and, if any of his cup-companions chanced to say, "This is a
pretty thing;" he would reply, "'Tis a gift to thee!"; or if
another said, "O my lord, such a house is handsome;" he would
answer, "Take it: it is thine!" After this reckless fashion he
continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a banquet
in the morning and a banquet in the evening and a banquet at
midnight, till one day, as the company was sitting together, the
damsel Anis al-Jalis repeated these lines,

"Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well, * And feardest
not what ills might deal thee Fate:
Thy nights so fair and restful cozened thee, * For peaceful
nights bring woes of heavy weight."

When she had ended her verse behold, somebody knocked at the
door. So Nur al-Din rose to open it and one of his boon-
companions followed him without being perceived. At the door he
found his Steward and asked him, "What is the matter?"; and he
answered, "O my lord, what I dreaded for thee hath come to pass!"
"How so?" "Know that there remains not a dirham's worth, less or
more in my hands. Here are my Daftars and account books showing
both income and outlay and the registers of thine original
property." When Nur al-Din heard these words he bowed his head
and said, "There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in
Allah!" When the man who had followed him privily to spy on him
heard the Steward's words, he returned to his friends and warned
them saying, "Look ye well to what ye do: Nur al-Din is