Ya Abdu, I am too languishing to move. It is a paper and it is written.
It does not matter. To-morrow or the next day it will be read.

ABDU
To-morrow or the next day I shall wake and pass it to you.

(Interval: more interesting ORIENTALS go by.)

ALI
(With sudden inspiration) Blow me the paper, Abdu.

ABDU
Alas, Allah sent thee to trouble the world!

(ABDU blows the paper over. ALI with infinite difficulty spells it out,
murmuring:)

ALI
Ha, alif, alif, re wow wow 'ain jeem--ah, ye blessed ones in Paradise,
is it thus ye write a jeem? Nun--but art thou a nun,
O letter, or a drunkard's qaf? Verily an ape has written this
with his tail: I have the second line. (With a start)
Ho, Abdu, whence came this? Do not pretend to sleep. Answer me.

ABDU
From the sky: how do I know?

ALI
Let me look at the sky. (Rolls on his back and stares upward)
I tell you, Abdu, a mighty joker has flung this from the balcony.