markets and khans and caravanserais three days' space, but found
no trace of him, neither lit upon tidings of him. So on the
fourth day he presented himself before the Khalif and said to
him, "O our lord, I have sought him these three days, but have
not found him." Quoth Er Reshid, "Make ready letters to Damascus.
Belike he hath returned to his own land." So Jaafer wrote a
letter and despatched it by a dromedary-courier to the city of
Damascus; and they sought him there and found him not.

Meanwhile, news was brought that Khorassan had been
conquered;[FN#23] whereupon Er Reshid rejoiced and bade decorate
Baghdad and release all who were in the prisons, giving each of
them a dinar and a dress. So Jaafer addressed himself to the
decoration of the city and bade his brother El Fezl ride to the
prison and clothe and release the prisoners. El Fezl did his
brother's bidding and released all but the young Damascene, who
abode still in the Prison of Blood, saying, "There is no power
and no virtue save in God the Most High, the Sublime! Verily, we
are God's and to Him we return." Then said El Fezl to the gaoler,
"Is there any prisoner left in the prison?" "No," answered he,
and El Fezl was about to depart, when Noureddin called out to him
from within the prison, saying, "O my lord, tarry, for there
remaineth none in the prison other than I and indeed I am
oppressed. This is a day of clemency and there is no disputing
concerning it." El Fezl bade release him; so they set him free
and he gave him a dress and a dinar. So the young man went out,
bewildered and knowing not whither he should go, for that he had
abidden in the prison nigh a year and indeed his condition was
changed and his favour faded, and he abode walking and turning
round, lest El Muradi should come upon him and cast him into