"Out on thee, O Abu al-Hasan! Thou slayest me with laughter."
So he turned to him and knowing him, said to him, "By Allah, 'tis
thou slayest me and slayest my mother and slewest the Shaykhs and
the Imam of the Mosque!" After which he kissed ground before him
and prayed for the permanence of his prosperity and the endurance
of his days. The Caliph at once robed him in a rich robe and
gave him a thousand dinars; and presently he took the Wag into
especial favour and married him and bestowed largesse on him and
lodged him with himself in the palace and made him of the chief
of his cup-companions, and indeed he was preferred with him above
them and the Caliph advanced him over them all. Now they were
ten in number, to wit, Al-'Ijli and Al-Rakashi and 'Ibdan and
Hasan al-Farazdak and Al-Lauz and Al-Sakar and Omar al-Tartis and
Abu Nowas and Abu Ishak al-Nadim and Abu al-Hasan al-Khali'a, and
by each of them hangeth a story which is told in other than this
book.[FN#58] And indeed Abu al-Hasan became high in honour with
the Caliph and favoured above all, so that he sat with him and
the Lady Zubaydah bint al-Kasim, whose treasuress Nuzhat al-
Fuad[FN#59] hight, was given to him in marriage. After this Abu
al-Hasan the Wag abode with his wife in eating and drinking and
all delight of life, till whatso was with them went the way of
money, when he said to her, "Harkye, O Nuzhat al-Fuad!" Said
she, "At they service;" and he continued, "I have it in mind to
play a trick on the Caliph[FN#60] and thou shalt do the same with
the Lady Zubaydah, and we will take of them at once, to begin
with, two hundred dinars and two pieces of silk. She rejoined,
"As thou willest, but what thinkest thou to do?" And he said,
"We will feign ourselves dead and this is the trick. I will die
before thee and lay myself out, and do thou spread over me a
silken napkin and loose my turban over me and tie my toes and lay