“O king, peace be upon you, I also became at last alarmed [for my life].  There is a common saying, ’That the first and second fault may be pardoned, but the third punished.’ [341] I determined then, in my own heart, to confine them; but if I had put them in the prison, who would have taken care of them?  They might have perished from want of food and drink, or they might have contrived more mischief.  For this reason, I have confined them in a cage, that they may be always under my own eye, then my mind will be at rest; lest being absent from my sight, they may hatch further wickedness.  The honour and esteem which I evince towards this dog, are on account of his loyalty and fidelity.  O, great God, a man without gratitude is worse than a faithful brute!  These were the past events of my life, which I have related to your majesty, now, either order me to be put to death, or grant me my life; to the king command belongs.”

On hearing this narrative, [342] I praised that man of honour, and said, your kindness has been uninterrupted, and there has been no limits to these fellows’ shameless and villainous conduct; so true is it, “That if you bury a dog’s tail for twelve years, it will still remain crooked as ever.” [343] After this, I asked the khwaja the history of those twelve rubies which were in the dog’s collar?  He replied, “May the age of your majesty be a hundred and twenty years!  After I had been three or four years governor of that port, I was sitting one day on the top of my house, which was high, for the purpose of viewing and enjoying the sea and plain beneath.  I was looking in all directions, when suddenly, I perceived two human figures, who were coming along from one side of the wood, where there was no high road.  Having seized a telescope, I looked at them, and saw they were of a strange appearance:  I speedily sent some mace-bearers to call them [to my presence.]

“When they came, I perceived they were a man and a woman.  I sent the woman into the seraglio to the princess, and called the man before me; I saw he was a youth of twenty or twenty-two years of age, whose beard and mustaches had commenced [growing;] but the colour of his face had become black as that of the tawa. [344] The hair of his head, and the nails of his fingers owing to the heat of the sun were greatly grown, and he looked like a man of the woods.  He held on his shoulder a boy of about three or four years old, and two sleeves of a garment, filled [with something], were suspended like a collar round his neck; he cut a strange appearance, and was oddly dressed, I was greatly surprised, and asked him, ’O, friend, who art thou, and of what country art thou the inhabitant, and in what a strange condition do I see thee?’ The young man began to weep bitterly, and taking off the two filled sleeves from around his neck, he laid them before me, and cried out, ’Hunger, hunger! for God’s sake give me something to eat; I have subsisted for a long while on roots and herbs, and there is not a particle of strength remaining in me.’  I instantly ordered him some bread, meat, and wine; he began to devour them.