pay down the money.'Quoth Nur al-Din，'I will not sell it，I swear by Allah！'[491] But one of the merchants said to him；'Know thou，O my son，that the value of this kerchief is an hundred dinars at most and that to an eager purchaser，and if this Frank pay thee down a thousand for it，thy profit will be nine hundred dinars，and what gain canst thou desire greater than this gain？ Wherefore'tis my rede that thou sell him this kerchief at that price and bid her who wrought it make thee other finer than it： so shalt thou profit nine hundred dinars by this accursed Frank，the enemy of Allah and of The Faith.'Nur al-Din was abashed at the merchants and sold the kerchief to the Frank；who，in their presence，paid him down the thousand dinars，with which he would have returned to his handmaid to congratulate her on what had passed；but the stranger said，'Harkye，O company of merchants，stop my lord Nur al-Din，for you and he are my guests this night.I have a jar of old Greek wine and a fat lamb，fresh fruit，flowers and confections；wherefore do ye all cheer me with your company to-night and not one of you tarry behind.'So the merchants said，'O my lord Nur al-Din，we desire that thou be with us on the like of this night，so we may talk together，we and thou，and we pray thee，of thy favour and bounty，to bear us company，so we and thou，may be the guests of this Frank，for he is a liberal man.'And they conjured him by the oath of divorce[492] and hindered him by main force from going home.
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