' Therewith
the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way
of living; and if any of his boon-companions chanced to say to
him, 'This thing is handsome,' he would answer, 'It is thine as a
gift;' or if another said, 'O my lord, such and such a house is
handsome,' he would say, 'Take it: it is thine.' In this manner
he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a
banquet in the morning and another in the evening, till one day
as they were sitting together, the damsel Enis el Jelis repeated
the following verses:
Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, when that the days were
fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee
might bring:
The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wert deceived by
them, For in the peace of night is born full many a
troublous thing.
Just as she had finished, there came a knocking at the door; so
Noureddin rose to open it, and one of his companions followed him
without his knowledge. At the door he found his steward and said
to him, 'What is the matter?' 'Omylord,' replied he, 'what I
feared for thee has come to pass!' 'How so?' asked Noureddin; and
the steward said, 'Know that there remains not a dirhem's worth,
less nor more, in my hands. Here are registers containing an
account of the original state of thy property and the way in
which thou hast spent it.
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