The Fourth Night of the Month.

When the evening evened, the king sat private in his sitting-chamber and bade fetch the Wazir.  When he presented himself before him, he said to him, “Tell me the tale of the Richard.”  The Minister replied, “I will.  Hear, O puissant king,

The Tale of the Richard who Married his Beautiful Daughter to the Poor Old Man.

A certain rich merchant had a beautiful daughter, who was as the full moon, and when she attained the age of fifteen, her father betook himself to an old man and spreading him a carpet in his sitting-chamber, gave him to eat and conversed and caroused with him.  Then said he to him, “I desire to marry thee to my daughter.”  The other drew back, because of his poverty, and said to him, “I am no husband for her nor am I a match for thee.”  The merchant was urgent with him, but he repeated his answer to him, saying, “I will not consent to this till thou acquaint me with the cause of thy desire for me.  An I find it reasonable, I will fall in with thy wish; and if not, I will not do this ever.”  Quoth the merchant, “Thou must know that I am a man from the land of China and was in my youth well-favoured and well-to-do.  Now I made no account of womankind, one and all, but followed after youths,[FN#347] and one night I saw, in a dream, as it were a balance set up, and hard by it a voice said, ’This is the portion of Such-an-one.’  I listened and presently I heard my own name; so I looked and behold, there stood a woman loathly to the uttermost; whereupon I awoke in fear and cried, ’I will never marry, lest haply this fulsome female fall to my lot.’  Then I set out for this city with merchandise and the journey was pleasant to me and the sojourn here, so that I took up my abode in the place for a length of time and gat me friends and factors.  At last I sold all my stock-in-trade and collected its price and there was left me nothing to occupy me till the folk[FN#348] should depart and I depart with them.  One day, I changed my clothes and putting gold into my sleeve, sallied forth to inspect the holes and corners of this city, and as I was wandering about, I saw a handsome house:  its seemliness pleased me; so I stood looking on it and beheld a lovely woman at the window.  When she saw me, she made haste and descended, whilst I abode confounded.  Then I betook myself to a tailor there and questioned him of the house and anent whose it was.  Quoth he, ’It belongeth to Such-an-one the Notary,[FN#349] God damn him!’ I asked, ’Is he her sire?’ and he answered, ‘Yes.’  So I repaired in great hurry to a man, with whom I had been wont to deposit my goods for sale, and told him I desired to gain access to Such-an-one the Notary.  Accordingly he assembled his friends and we betook ourselves to the Notary’s house.  When we came in to him, we saluted him and sat with him, and I said to him, ’I come to thee as a suitor, desiring in marriage the hand of thy daughter.’  He replied, ’I