Volume Five-第60章

and he went on removing from place to place till he had gone half a day's journey from the city，ever casting the net which kept bringing up naught.So he said to himself，'By Allah，I will throw my net a-stream but his once more，whether ill come of it or weal！'[212]Then he hurled the net with all his force，of the excess and his wrath and the purse with the hundred dinars flew out of his collar-pocket and，lighting in mid-stream，was carried away by the strong current；whereupon he threw down the net and plunged into the water after the purse.He dived for it nigh a hundred times，till his strength was exhausted and he came up for sheer fatigue without chancing on it.When he despaired of finding the purse，he returned to the shore，where he was nothing but staff，net and basket and sought for his clothes，but could light on no trace of them： so he said in himself，'O vilest of those wherefor was made the byword，'The pilgrimage is not perfected save by copulation with the camel！'[213]Then he wrapped the net about him and taking staff in one hand and basket in other，went trotting about like a camel in rut，running right and left and backwards and forwards，dishevelled and dusty，as he were a rebel Marid let loose from Solomon's prison.[214]So far for what concerns the Fisherman Khalifah；but as regards the Caliph Harun al-Rashid，he had a friend，a jeweller called Ibn al-Kirnas，[215] and all the traders，brokers and middle-men knew him for the Caliph's merchant；wherefore there was naught sold in Baghdad，by way of rarities and things of price or Mamelukes or handmaidens，but was first shown to him.As he sat one day in his shop，behold，there came up to him the Shaykh of the brokers，with a slave-girl，whose like seers never saw，for she was of passing beauty and loveliness，symmetry and perfect grace，and among her gifts was that she knew all arts and sciences and could make verses and play upon all manner musical instruments.So Ibn al-Kirnas bought her for five thousand golden dinars and clothed her with other thousand；after which he carried her to the Prince of True Believers，with whom she lay the night and who made trial of her in every kind of knowledge and accomplishment and found her versed in all sorts of arts and sciences，having no equal in her time.Her name was Kut al-Kulub [216] and she was even as saith the poet；'I fix my glance on her，whene'er she wends；* And non-acceptance of my glance breeds pain：