' 'This shall be for another
day,' answered I and laughed in spite of my anger. 'Finish what
thou hast to do for me and go in peace and enjoy thyself with thy
friends, for they will be awaiting thy coming.' 'O my lord,'
replied he, 'I only seek to bring thee in company with these
pleasant folk, amongst whom there is neither meddlesomeness nor
excess of talk; for never, since I came to years of discretion,
could I endure to consort with those who ask of what concerns
them not, nor with any except those who are, like myself, men of
few words. Verily, if thou wert once to see them and company with
them, thou wouldst forsake all thy friends.' 'God fulfil thy
gladness with them!' rejoined I. 'Needs must I foregather with
them one of these days.' And he said, 'I would it were to be
to-day, for I had made up my mind that thou shouldst make one of
us: but if thou must indeed go to thy friends to-day, I will take
the good things, with which thy bounty hath provided me for them,
to my guests, and leave them to eat and drink, without waiting
for me, whilst I return to thee in haste and accompany thee
whither thou goest; for there is no ceremony between me and my
friends to hinder me from leaving them.' 'There is no power and
no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!' cried I. 'Go
thou to thy friends and make merry with them and let me go to
mine and be with them this day, for they expect me.
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