This then, O my
brothers, is my story and how I came to be docked of my cullions;
and peace be on you.' Then said the second eunuch, 'Know, O my
brothers, that
Story of the Eunuch Kafour.
From the time when I was eight years old, I was wont to tell the
slave-merchants one lie every year, so that they fell out with
one another, till at last my master lost patience with me and
carrying me down to the market, delivered me to a broker and bade
him cry me for sale, saying, "Who will buy this slave with his
fault?" He did so, and it was asked him, "What is his fault?"
Quoth he, "He tells one lie every year." Then came up one of the
merchants and said to the broker, "How much have they bidden for
this slave, with his fault?" "Six hundred dirhems," replied the
broker. "And twenty dirhems for thyself," said the merchant. So
he brought him to the slave-dealer, who took the money, and the
broker carried me to my master's house and went away, after
having received his brokerage. The merchant clothed me as
befitted my condition, and I bode in his service the rest of the
year, until the new year came in with good omen. It was a blessed
season, rich in herbage and the fruits of the earth, and the
merchants began to give entertainments every day, each bearing
the cost in turn, till it came to my master's turn to entertain
them in a garden without the city.
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