blessed opening! What art thou, O ape?" "Dost thou not know me?"
"No, by Allah, I have no knowledge of thee!" "I am thine ape!"
"What use is there in thee, O my ape?" "Every day I give thee
good-morrow, so Allah may not open to thee the door of daily
bread." "Thou failest not of this, O one-eye[FN#269] of ill-omen!
May Allah never bless thee! Needs must I pluck out thy sound eye
and cut off thy whole leg, so thou mayst become a blind cripple
and I be quit of thee. But what is the use of that rod thou
hendest in hand?" "O Khalif, I scare the fish therewith, so they
may not enter thy net." "Is it so?: then this very day will I
punish thee with a grievous punishment and devise thee all manner
torments and strip thy flesh from thy bones and be at rest from
thee, sorry bit of goods that thou art!" So saying, Khalif the
Fisherman unwound from his middle a strand of rope and binding
him to a tree by his side, said, "Lookee, O dog of an ape! I mean
to cast the net again and if aught come up therein, well and
good; but, if it come up empty, I will verily and assuredly make
an end of thee, with the cruellest tortures and be quit of thee,
thou stinking lot." So he cast the net and drawing it ashore,
found in it another ape and said, "Glory be to God the Great! I
was wont to pull naught but fish out of this Tigris, but now it
yieldeth nothing but apes." Then he looked at the second ape and
saw him fair of form and round of face with pendants of gold in
his ears and a blue waistcloth about his middle, and he was like
unto a lighted taper. So he asked him, "What art thou, thou also,
O ape?"; and he answered, saying, "O Khalif, I am the ape of Ab£
al-Sa' d t the Jew, the Caliph's Shroff. Every day, I give him
good-morrow, and he maketh a profit of ten gold pieces." Cried
the Fisherman, "By Allah, thou art a fine ape, not like this
ill-omened monkey o' mine!" So saying, he took a stick[FN#270]