ABSTRACT
It is related, O auspicious King, that there was in Baghdād, during the reign of the Khalīfah Hārūn al-Rashīd, a man called Ahmad-the-Moth and another known as Hasan-the-Pest. Both were so famous for their prodigious mastery in theft and fraud that the Khalīfah, who could draw advantage from every sort of talent, called them to him and appointed them the chiefs of his police. He gave each a robe of honour, a salary of a thousand golden dīnārs every month, and a guard of forty horsemen, at the same time putting the safety of the city on land in charge of Ahmad-the-Moth and intrusting its safety by water to Hasan-the-Pest. The two walked ever at the Khalīfah's side, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
