The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10 | Page 9

they put faith in what I say and believe in thy greatness
and generosity and love thee. Then will I invite thee to my house and
invite all the merchants on thy account and bring together thee and
them, so that all may know thee and thou know them,"--And Shahrazad
perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.
When it was the Nine Hundred and Ninety-second Night,
She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
merchant Ali said to Ma'aruf, "I will invite thee to my house and invite
all the merchants on thy account and bring together thee and them, so
that all may know thee and thou know them, whereby thou shalt sell
and buy and take and give with them; nor will it be long ere thou
become a man of money." Accordingly, on the morrow he gave him a

thousand dinars and a suit of clothes and a black slave and mounting
him on a she-mule, said to him, "Allah give thee quittance of
responsibility for all this,[FN#29] inasmuch as thou art my friend and it
behoveth me to deal generously with thee. Have no care; but put away
from thee the thought of thy wife's misways and name her not to any."
"Allah requite thee with good!" replied Ma'aruf and rode on, preceded
by his blackamoor till the slave brought him to the gate of the
merchants' bazar, where they were all seated, and amongst them Ali,
who when he saw him, rose and threw himself upon him, crying, "A
blessed day, O Merchant Ma'aruf, O man of good works and
kindness[FN#30]!" And he kissed his hand before the merchants and
said to them, "Our brothers, ye are honoured by knowing[FN#31] the
merchant Ma'aruf." So they saluted him, and Ali signed to them to
make much of him, wherefore he was magnified in their eyes. Then Ali
helped him to dismount from his she-mule and saluted him with the
salam; after which he took the merchants apart, one after other, and
vaunted Ma'aruf to them. They asked, "Is this man a merchant?;" and
he answered, "Yes; and indeed he is the chiefest of merchants, there
liveth not a wealthier than he; for his wealth and the riches of his father
and forefathers are famous among the merchants of Cairo. He hath
partners in Hind and Sind and Al-Yaman and is high in repute for
generosity. So know ye his rank and exalt ye his degree and do him
service, and wot also that his coming to your city is not for the sake of
traffic, and none other save to divert himself with the sight of folk's
countries: indeed, he hath no need of strangerhood for the sake of gain
and profit, having wealth that fires cannot consume, and I am one of his
servants." And he ceased not to extol him, till they set him above their
heads and began to tell one another of his qualities. Then they gathered
round him and offered him junkets[FN#32] and sherbets, and even the
Consul of the Merchants came to him and saluted him; whilst Ali
proceeded to ask him, in the presence of the traders, "O my lord, haply
thou hast brought with thee somewhat of such and such a stuff?"; and
Ma'aruf answered,"Plenty." Now Ali had that day shown him various
kinds of costly clothes and had taught him the names of the different
stuffs, dear and cheap. Then said one of the merchants, "O my lord,
hast thou brought with thee yellow broad cloth?": and Ma'aruf said,
"Plenty"! Quoth another, "And gazelles' blood red[FN#33]?"; and

quoth the Cobbler, "Plenty"; and as often as he asked him of aught, he
made him the same answer. So the other said, "O Merchant Ali had thy
countryman a mind to transport a thousand loads of costly stuffs, he
could do so"; and Ali said, "He would take them from a single one of
his store-houses, and miss naught thereof." Now whilst they were
sitting, behold, up came a beggar and went the round of the merchants.
One gave him a half dirham and another a copper,[FN#34] but most of
them gave him nothing, till he came to Ma'aruf who pulled out a
handful of gold and gave it to him, whereupon he blessed him and went
his ways. The merchants marvelled at this and said, "Verily, this is a
King's bestowal for he gave the beggar gold without count, and were he
not a man of vast wealth and money without end, he had not given a
beggar a handful of gold." After a while, there came to him a poor
woman and he gave her a handful of gold; whereupon she went away,
blessing him, and told the other beggars, who