And he said, "Very good." And it flew, and went its way.
The lad returned to the date-tree. And he saw the date-tree, and he saw the dates, and he felt his soul glad; and his heart felt itself as if one had come and said to him, "Come, rise up and go into Paradise;" he felt such beauty in his soul—he felt so joyous—he felt his body so strong—he felt his eyes so bright. And the youth laughed loud, and said, "This is my luck, mine, Sit-in-the-kitchen's." And he said, "Six lions came here, every man with sword and shield, and his dagger at his waist, and his stick in hand, and each youth said to his companion, 'Make room here that I may pass.' In the first place strong youths, in the second handsome youths, in the third, well-known in the town, more than I, Sit-in-the-kitchen. But this my luck, God has given it me. What is laid up by God, no son of Adam can take away, save he for whom it is laid up."
And the youth arose, and said, "Farewell, date-tree, I am going to lie down; what ate you, now will eat you no more. To-day there is a sleep like that which puts an end to child-bearing." And he arose, and went and lay down.
And when the night had turned to daylight, he came there by the date-tree, and covered himself with a sheet, and slept. At last his head-man awoke. "Let us look at the date-tree to-day, whether we are to get the bird's scraps that are left, for as to this date-tree, no one will see its dates." The head-man came, till when half the way was past, and he cast his eyes towards where the date-tree was; he saw that the tree had remained in good condition.
He ran back to his house, and beat the large drum, and all his fellow-slaves came, women and men, and even the
