and came down upon the sides of the ape, till he broke his ribs
and he jumped up and down. And the other ape, the handsome one,
answered him, saying, "O Khalif, what will it profit thee to beat
him, though thou belabour him till he die?" Khalif replied, "How
shall I do? Shall I let him wend his ways that he may scare me
the fish with his hang-dog face and give me good-even and
good-morrow every day, so Allah may not open to me the door of
daily bread? Nay, I will kill him and be quit of him and I will
take thee in his stead; so shalt thou give me good-morrow and I
shall gain ten golden dinars a day." Thereupon the comely ape
made answer, "I will tell thee a better way than that, and if
thou hearken to me, thou shalt be at rest and I will become thine
ape in lieu of him." Asked the Fisherman, "And what dost thou
counsel me?"; and the ape answered, saying, "Cast thy net and
thou shalt bring up a noble fish, never saw any its like, and I
will tell thee how thou shalt do with it." Replied Khalif,
"Lookee, thou too! An I throw my net and there come up therein a
third ape, be assured that I will cut the three of you into six
bits." And the second ape rejoined, "So be it, O Khalif. I agree
to this thy condition." Then Khalif spread the net and cast it
and drew it up, when behold, in it was a fine young
barbel[FN#271] with a round head, as it were a milking-pail,
which when he saw, his wits fled for joy and he said, "Glory be
to God! What is this noble creature? Were yonder apes in the
river, I had not brought up this fish." Quoth the seemly ape, "O
Khalif, an thou give ear to my rede, 'twill bring thee good
fortune"; and quoth the Fisherman, "May God damn him who would
gainsay thee henceforth!" Thereupon the ape said, "O Khalif, take
some grass and lay the fish thereon in the basket[FN#272] and
cover it with more grass and take also somewhat of basil[FN#273]