porter, "O uncle, where is Khalif's house?" and quoth he, "'Tis
in the ruined Khan in the Raw sin Quarter."[FN#287] Then said
Zurayk to Khalif, "Go to; would Heaven thou hadst never lived nor
been!" And the Fisherman trudged on, followed by the porter, till
they came to the place when the Hammal said, "O thou whose daily
bread Allah cut off in this world, have we not passed this place
a score of times? Hadst thou said to me, 'Tis in such a stead,
thou hadst spared me this great toil; but now give me my wage and
let me wend my way." Khalif replied "Thou shalt have silver, if
not gold. Stay here, till I bring thee the same." So he entered
his lodging and taking a mallet he had there, studded with forty
nails (wherewith an he smote a camel, he had made an end of it),
rushed upon the porter and raised his forearm to strike him
therewith; but Zurayk cried out at him, saying, "Hold thy hand! I
have no claim on thee," and fled. Now having got rid of the
Hammal, Khalif carried the chest into the Khan, whereupon the
neighbours came down and flocked about him, saying, "O Khalif,
whence hadst thou this robe and this chest?" Quoth he, "From my
apprentice Al-Rashid who gave them to me," and they said, "The
pimp is mad! Al-Rashid will assuredly hear of his talk and hang
him over the door of his lodging and hang all in the Khan on
account of the droll. This is a fine farce!" Then they helped him
to carry the chest into his lodging and it filled the whole
closet.[FN#288] Thus far concerning Khalif; but as for the
history of the chest, it was as follows: The Caliph had a Turkish
slave-girl, by name Kut al-Kul£b, whom he loved with love
exceeding and the Lady Zubaydah came to know of this from himself
and was passing jealous of her and secretly plotted mischief
against her. So, whilst the Commander of the Faithful was absent
a-sporting and a-hunting, she sent for Kut al-Kulub and, inviting