the Prince of the Faithful with these expressions? She answered, I am thy mother, O my son. But he replied, Thou liest: I am the Prince of the Faithful, the lord of the countries and the people. Be silent, she said, or else thy life will be lost. And she began to pronounce spells, and to recite charms over him, and said to him, It seemeth, O my son, that thou hast seen this in a dream, and all this is one of the ideas suggested by the devil. She said to him, I give thee good news, at which thou wilt be rejoiced. And what is it? said he. She answered, The caliph gave orders yesterday to beat the imam and the four sheiks, and caused a bond to be written against them, confirmed by oath, that they shall not transgress henceforth against anyone by their impertinent meddling; and he sent me a hundred pieces of gold, with his salutation. And when Abou Hassan heard these words from his mother, he uttered a loud cry, with which his soul almost quitted the world; and he exclaimed, I am he who gave orders to beat the sheiks, and who sent thee the hundred pieces of gold, with my salutation, and I am the Prince of the Faithful.

Having said this, he rose up against his mother, and beat her with an almond stick, until she cried out, O ye faithful. And he beat her with increased violence, until the neighbors heard her cries and came to her relief. He was still beating her, and saying to her, O ill-omened old woman, am I not the Prince of the Faithful? Thou has enchanted me! And when the people heard his words, they said, This man hath become mad. And not doubting his insanity, they came in and laid hold upon him, bound hands behind him, and conveyed him to the madhouse. There every day they punished him, dosing him with abominable medicines, and flogging him with whips, making him a madman in spite of himself. Thus he continued, stripped of his clothing, and chained by the neck to a high window, for the space of ten days; after which his mother came to salute him. And he complained to her of his case. So she said to him, O my son, fear God in thy conduct: if thou wert Prince of the Faithful, thou wouldst not be in this predicament. And when he heard what his mother said, he replied, By Allah, thou hast spoken truth. It seemeth that I was asleep, and dreamed that they made me caliph, and assigned me servants and female slaves. So his mother said to him, O my son, verily Satan doeth more than this. And he replied, Thou hast spoken truth, and I beg forgiveness of God for the actions committed by me.

They therefore took him forth from the madhouse, and conducted him into the bath; and when he recovered his health, he prepared food and drink, and began to eat. But eating by himself was not pleasant to him; and he said to his mother, O my mother, neither life nor eating by myself is pleasant to me. She replied, If thou desire to do according to thy will, thy return to the madhouse is most probable. Paying no attention, however, to her advice, he walked to the bridge to seek for himself a cup-companion. And while he was sitting there, lo, Alrashid came to him in the garb of a merchant; for, from the time of his parting with him he came every day to the bridge, but found him not till now. As soon as Abou Hassan saw him, he said to him, A friendly welcome to thee, O King of the Genii! So Alrashid said, What have I done to thee? What more couldst thou do, said Abou Hassan, than thou hast done to me, O filthiest of the Genii? I have suffered beating, and entered the madhouse, and they pronounced me a madman. All this was occasioned by thee. I brought thee to my abode, and fed thee with the best of my food; and after that thou gavest thy devils and thy slaves entire power over me, to make sport with my reason from morning to evening. Depart from me, therefore, and go thy way.

The caliph smiled at this, and, seating himself by his side, addressed him in courteous language, and said to him, O my brother, when I went forth from thee, I inadvertently left the door open, and probably the devil went in to thee. Abou Hassan replied, Inquire not respecting that which happened to me. And what possessed thee, he added, that thou leftest the door open, so that the devil came in to me, and that such and such things befell me? And he related to the caliph all that had happened to him from first to last, while Alrashid laughed, but concealed his laughter: after which the caliph said to him, Praise be to God that He hath dispelled from thee that which thou hatest, and that I have seen thee again in prosperity!

But Abou Hassan replied, I will not take thee again as my boon-companion, nor as an associate to sit with me; for the proverb saith, he who stumbleth against a stone and returneth to it, is to be blamed and reproached: and with thee, O my brother, I will not carouse, nor will I keep company with thee: since I have not found thy visit to be followed by good fortune to me. The caliph, however, said, I have been