not return your property; this is the meaning of his saying, I have lent and shall not be paid."
And he said, "Yes, Vizir, certainly these words are true. And the Sultan said, "He that gives a wife a dowry does not get it again; when the husband has gone to ruin, the wife has no good spirit to give to him. Because you have become poor, she looks upon you as a simpleton, she does not know you as having been her husband. Because you have become destitute, you have become bad, too; and more, she looks upon you as a man without understanding, because you have lost your property. For when you had property you were a handsome man, you were a clever youth, you seemed like the son of a Sultan."
And the Vizir arose and said, "True, Sultan, if a man loses his property he is nobody in other people's eyes." And the Sultan said, "Vizir, tell me the meaning of the fourth part, to pay and not to have finished paying."
And he said to the Sultan, "Its meaning is that Ali gave the property as to one part to his mother. Now Ali knows not whether his mother's soul is satisfied with the property given her by her son. So Ali says, perhaps my mother is not yet pleased with what I have done for her. That is the meaning of Ali's talking of paying and not having finished paying."
The Sultan said, "Yes, Vizir." And he arose from the chair he sat in, and the audience was very full with people, and he called an officer, and said to him, "Go to the fort and order the commander to beat the drums. My Vizir has now become Sultan, and I have become his Vizir; and all you soldiers, and all you who are in the town, Arabs, and Swahili, and Comoro men, obey the Sultan."
And he arose, and the Vizir took the Sultanship. So they remained for the space of two days.
