its superscription! Verily, to-day is a day of apes: there is
not a single fish left in the river, and we are come out to-day
but to catch monkeys!" Then he turned to the third ape and said,
"And what thing art thou also, O unlucky?" Quoth the ape, "Dost
thou not know me, O Khalifah!"; and quoth he, "Not I!" The ape
cried, "I am the ape of Abu al-Sa'adat [FN#193] the Jew, the
shroff." Asked Khalifah, "And what dost thou for him?"; and the
ape answered, "I give him good-morrow at the first of the day,
and he gaineth five ducats; and again at the end of the day, I
give him good-even and he gaineth other five ducats." Whereupon
Khalifah turned to the first ape and said to him, "See, O
unlucky, what fine apes other folks have! As for thee, thou
givest me good-morrow with thy one eye and thy lameness and thy
ill-omened phiz and I become poor and bankrupt and hungry!" So
saying, he took the cattle-stick and flourishing it thrice in the
air, was about to come down with it on the first ape, when Abu
al-Sa'adat's ape said to him, "Let him be, O Khalifah, hold thy
hand and come hither to me, that I may tell thee what to do." So
Khalifah threw down the stick and walking up to him cried, "And
what hast thou to say to me, O monarch of all monkeys?" Replied
the ape, "Leave me and the other two apes here, and take thy net
and cast it into the river; and whatever cometh up, bring it to
me, and I will tell thee what shall gladden thee."--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.


When it was the Eight Hundred and Thirty-third Night

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the ape
of Abu al-Sa'adat said to Khalifah, "Take thy net and cast it