Find out what we shall do! Thou hast let me fall into a trap,
and now dost quiver and quake and shiver and shake like a tub of whey
on the back of a restive camel: my kingdom is reduced from
twelve provinces to twelve square cubits: my subjects from
thirty millions unto three, but Bismillah! one of my subjects
is the Executioner, and Mashallah! another one merits execution:
and Inshallah! if thy head doth not immediately devise
a practical scheme of escape it shall dive off my shoulders
and swim across the floor.

JAFAR
What shall happen, shall happen. But here is one who is occupied
in meditation, and is aloof from the circumstances of the moment:
let us invite him to Council.

CALIPH
Ho, thou Hassan! What occupies thy spirit?

HASSAN
I am examining the square of carpet. It is of cheap manufacturer,
inferior dye and unpleasant pattern.

CALIPH
Art thou a carpet dealer?

HASSAN
No, sir, I am a confectioner,

CALIPH
And I am the Caliph.