8
The Thousand and One Days
II
The Story of Aboulcasem of Bassora
LL historians agree that the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid would have been the most perfect, as he was the most powerful, prince of his century if he had not been a little too much inclined to anger, and insupportably vain. He was continually saying that there was no prince in the world so generous as he.
Giafar, his grand vizir, grieved that he should thus praise himself, took the liberty of saying to him one day, 'Oh, my sovereign master, monarch of the earth, pardon your slave if he dares represent to you that you ought not to praise yourself. Leave your praises to be sung by your subjects and the crowd of strangers that are seen at your court Content yourself with the knowledge that
