then went on to Baghdad-city, and, finding my quarter, entered my
house with lively pleasure. There I foregathered with my family
and friends, who rejoiced in my happy return and gave my joy of
my safety. I laid up in my storehouses all the goods I had
brought with me, and gave alms and largesse to Fakirs and beggars
and clothed the widow and the orphan. Then I gave myself up to
pleasure and enjoyment, returning to my old merry mode of life.
"Such, then, be the most marvellous adventures of my fourth
voyage, but to-morrow if you will kindly come to me, I will tell
you that which befel me in my fifth voyage, which was yet rarer
and more marvellous than those which forewent it. And thou, O my
brother Sindbad the Landsman, shalt sup with me as thou art
wont." (Saith he who telleth the tale), When Sindbad the Seaman
had made an end of his story, he called for supper; so they
spread the table and the guests ate the evening meal; after which
he gave the Porter an hundred dinars as usual, and he and the
rest of the company went their ways, glad at heart and marvelling
at the tales they had heard, for that each story was more
extraordinary than that which forewent it. The porter Sindbad
passed the night in his own house, in all joy and cheer and
wonderment; and, as soon as morning came with its sheen and
shone, he prayed the dawn-prayer and repaired to the house of
Sindbad the Seaman, who welcomed him and bade him sit with him
till the rest of the company arrived, when they ate and drank and
made merry and the talk went round amongst them. Presently, their
host began the narrative of the fifth voyage,--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Five Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,