' 'I have a flagon or two in the house,'
answered I; and he said, 'Have it brought out.' So I sent for it,
and he exclaimed, 'God bless thee for a generous soul! But there
are still the perfumes and the essences.' So I brought him a box,
containing fifty dinars' worth of aloes-wood and ambergris and
musk and other perfumes. By this, the time began to run short and
my heart was straitened; so I said to him, 'Take it all and
finish shaving my head, by the life of Mohammed, whom God bless
and preserve!' 'By Allah,' said he, 'I will not take it till
I see all that is in it.' So I made the servant open the box,
and the barber threw down the astrolabe and sitting down on
the ground, turned over the contents, till I was well-nigh
distracted. Then he took the razor and coming up to me, shaved
some little of my head and recited the following verse:
The boy after his father's guise grows up and follows suit As
surely as the tree springs up from out its parent root.
Then said he, 'O my son, I know not whether to thank thee or thy
father; for my entertainment to-day is all due to thy kindness
and liberality, and none of my company is worthy of it; though I
have none but men of consideration, such as Zentout the
bath-keeper and Selya the corn-chandler and Silet the bean-seller
and Akresheh the grocer and Hemid the scavenger and Said the
camel-driver and Suweyd the porter and Abou Mukarish the
bathman[FN#96] and Cassim the watchman and Kerim the groom.
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