THE MERCHANT OF CAIRO AND THE FAVOURITE OF THE KHALIF EL MAMOUN EL HAKIM BI AMRILLAH.[1]
As I sat one day in my shop, there came up to me a fair woman, as she were the moon at its rising, and with her a slave-girl. Now I was a handsome man in my time; so the lady sat down on [the bench before] my shop and buying stuffs of me, paid down the price and went away. I questioned the girl of her and she said, “I know not her name.” Quoth I, “Where is her abode?” “In heaven,” answered the slave-girl; and I said, “She is presently on the earth; so when doth she ascend to heaven and where is the ladder by which she goeth up?” Quoth the girl, “She hath her lodging in a palace between two rivers,[2] to wit, the palace of El Mamoun el Hakim bi Amrillah.”[3] Then said I, “I am
- ↑ Breslau Text, pp. 402–412.
- ↑ i.e. on an island between two branches of the Nile.
- ↑ It is not plain what Khalif is here meant, though it is evident, from the context, that an Egyptian prince is referred to, unless the story is told of the Abbaside Khalif El Mamoun, son of Er Reshid (A.D. 813–33), during his temporary residence in Egypt, which he is said to have visited. This is, however, unlikely, as his character was the
