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carrying them to the bath, sent them thither each a suit of apparel such as befitted a merchant worth a thousand purses.[1] When they had washed and donned each his suit, I carried them to my house, where, seeing them to be sore anhungred, I set a tray of food before them and ate with them, caressing them and comforting them. Then he turned to the two dogs and said to them, ‘Was this so, O my brothers?’ And they bent their heads and lowered their eyes.
‘Then, O Vicar of God,’ continued Abdallah, ‘I said to them, “What hath befallen you and where are your goods?” Quoth they, “We fared up the river,[2] till we came to a city called Cufa, where we sold for ten dinars the piece of stuff that had cost us half a dinar and that which cost us a dinar for twenty. So we profited greatly and bought Persian[3] stuffs at the rate of ten dinars the piece of silk worth forty in Bassora. Thence we removed to a city called El Kerkh,[4] where we sold and bought and made great profit and amassed store of wealth.” And they went on to set forth to me the places [they had visited] and the profits [they had made]. So I said to them, “Since ye had such good luck, how comes it that I see you return naked?” They sighed and answered, “O our brother, some one must have belooked us with the evil eye and there is no security in travel. When we had gotten together these riches and goods, we freighted a ship therewith and set sail, intending for Bassora. We fared on three days and on the fourth day we saw the water rise and fall and roar and foam and swell and rage, whilst the waves clashed together, striking out sparks like fire. The winds blew contrary for us and our ship struck upon the point of a rock, where it broke up and plunged us into the river, and all we had with us was lost in the
