ABSTRACT
He regaled them all with an excellent supper and sent them upon their way in peace.
So much for them. But Allah knows all! When she had made an end of this admirable series of tales,
Shahrazad fell silent, and King Shahryar cried: 'O Shahrazad, you have instructed me in many things, but I think that you have forgotten to speak of the wazir Jafar. I have long desired to hear all that you know concerning him, for I find that he strangely resembles in his quality my own grand-wazir, your excellent father. It is that likeness which urges me to hear the whole of his surely admirable story/ But Shahrazad hung her head, as she replied: 'Allah keep us from calamity, O King of time, and have compassion upon Jafar the Barmakid and all his people! I beg you to excuse me from telling that story, for it is full of tears. Alas, who would not weep to hear of the end of Jafar, and of his father Yahya, and of his brother al-Fadl, and of all the Barmakids! So lamentable was their taking off that stone itself would become tender at the telling of it.' 'Yet tell me all the same, O Shahrazad,' said King Shahryar, 'and may Allah keep us from all calamity!'
