'Ja'afar fared on with him，with Mamelukes before and behind，whilst he said，'Doth not arrest suffice，but these must go behind and before me，to hinder my making off？'till they had traversed seven vestibules，when the Wazir said to him，'Mark my words，O Fisherman！ Thou standest before the Commander of the Faithful and Defender of the Faith！'Then he raised the great curtain and Khalifah's eyes fell on the Caliph，who was seated on his couch，with the Lords of the realm standing in attendance upon him.As soon as he knew him，he went up to him and said；'Well come，and welcome to thee，O piper！'Twas not right of thee to make thyself a Fisherman and go away，leaving me sitting to guard the fish，and never to return！ For，before I was aware；there came up Mamelukes on beasts of all manner colours，and snatched away the fish from me，I standing alone，and this was all of thy fault；for，hadst thou returned with the frails forthright，we had sold an hundred dinars'worth of fish.And now I come to seek my due，and they have arrested me but thou；who hath imprisoned thee also in this place？'The Caliph smiled and raising a corner of the curtain，put forth his head and said to the Fisherman，'Come hither and take thee one of these papers.'Quoth Khalifah the Fisherman，'Yesterday thou wast a fisherman，and to-day thou hast become an astrologer；but the more trades a man hath，the poorer he waxeth.'Thereupon；Ja'afar，said，'Take the paper at once，and do as the Commander of the Faithful biddeth thee without prating.'So he came forward and put forth his hand saying，'Far be it from me that this piper should ever again be my knave and fish with me！'Then taking the paper he handed it to the Caliph，saying，'O piper；what hath come out for me therein？ Hide naught thereof.'--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
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