price.  Reaching the city in due time, I went straight to my own quarter and entered my house, where all my friends and kinsfolk came to greet me.  Then I bought me eunuchs and concubines, servants and negro slaves, till I had a large establishment, and I bought me houses, and lands and gardens, till I was richer and in better case than before, and returned to enjoy the society of my friends and familiars more assiduously than ever, forgetting all I had suffered of fatigue and hardship and strangerhood and every peril of travel; and I applied myself to all manner joys and solaces and delights, eating the daintiest viands and drinking the deliciousest wines; and my wealth allowed this state of things to endure.  This, then, is the story of my first voyage, and to-morrow, Inshallah!  I will tell you the tale of the second of my seven voyages.  Saith he who telleth the tale:  Then Sindbad the Seaman made Sindbad the Landsman sup with him and bade give him an hundred gold pieces, saying, “Thou hast cheered us with thy company this day.”  The Porter thanked him, and taking the gift, went his way, pondering that which he had heard and marveling mightily at what things betide mankind.

CONCLUSION OF THE ‘THOUSAND NIGHTS AND A NIGHT’

Translation of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton

Now during this time Shahrazad had borne the King three boy children; so, when she had made an end of the story of Ma’aruf, she rose to her feet and kissing ground before him, said, “O King of the time and unique one of the age and the tide, I am thine handmaid, and these thousand nights and a night have I entertained thee with stories of folk gone before and admonitory instances of the men of yore.  May I then make bold to crave a boon of thy highness?” He replied, “Ask, O Shahrazad, and it shall be granted to thee.”  Whereupon she cried out to the nurses and the eunuchs, saying, “Bring me my children.”  So they brought them to her in haste, and they were three boy children, one walking, one crawling, and one sucking.  She took them, and setting them before the King, again kissed ground and said, “O King of the Age, these are thy children and I crave that thou release me from the doom of death, as a dole to these infants; for, an thou kill me, they will become motherless and will find none among women to rear them as they should be reared.”  When the King heard this, he wept and straining the boys to his bosom, said, “By Allah, O Shahrazad, I pardoned thee before the coming of these children, for that I found thee chaste, pure, ingenuous, and pious!  Allah bless thee and thy father and thy mother and thy root and thy branch!  I take the Almighty to witness against me that I exempt thee from aught that can harm thee.”