ABSTRACT

AMONG other stories it is related, O auspicious King, that one night the Khalifah, Harun al-Rashid, left his palace, accompanied by his wazir Jafar, his wazir al-Fazl, Abu Ishak, his favourite singer, the poet Abu Nuwas, Masrur the sword-bearer, and Ahmadthe-Moth, his chief of police. They went, each disguised as a merchant, down to the banks of the Tigris and, getting on board a boat, allowed the current to bear them whither it would. For Jafar had told the Khalifah, who was suffering from sleeplessness and depression of spirit, that there was no better remedy for such weariness than seeing a new thing, hearing a new thing, and visiting a new place.