Then he fared on at random, till the end of the day, and hunger
was sore on him and he was worn out with fatigue. Coming to a
village, he entered a mosque, where he sat down on a mat, leaning
his back against the wall, and presently sank to the ground, in
extremity for hunger and weariness, and lay there till morning,
his heart fluttering for want of food. By reason of his sweating,
vermin coursed over his skin, his breath grew fetid and he became
in sorry case. When the people of the town came to pray the
morning-prayer, they found him lying there, sick and weak with
hunger, yet showing signs of gentle breeding. As soon as they had
done their devotions, they came up to him and finding him cold
and starving, threw over him an old mantle with ragged sleeves
and said to him, 'O stranger, whence art thou and what ails
thee?' He opened his eyes and wept, but made them no answer;
whereupon, one of them, seeing that he was starving, brought him
a saucerful of honey and two cakes of bread. So he ate a little
and they sat with him till sunrise, when they went about their
occupations. He abode with them in this state for a month, whilst
sickness and infirmity increased upon him, and they wept for him
and pitying his condition, took counsel together of his case and
agreed to send him to the hospital at Baghdad. Meanwhile, there
came into the mosque two beggar women, who were none other than
Ghanim's mother and sister; and when he saw them, he gave them
the bread that was at his head and they slept by his side that
night, but he knew them not.
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