now that
you are at one of the gates of Damascus?" "At one of the gates of
Damascus!" answered Buddir ad Deen, "surely you mock me. When I
lay down to sleep last night I was at Cairo." When he had said
this, some of the people, moved with compassion for him,
exclaimed, "It is a pity that such a handsome young man should
have lost his senses;" and so went away.

"My son," said an old man to him, "you know not what you say. How
is it possible that you, being this morning at Damascus, could be
last night at Cairo?" "It is true," said Buddir ad Deen, "and I
swear to you, that I was all day yesterday at Bussorah." He had
no sooner said this than all the people fell into a fit of
laughter, and cried out, "He's a fool, he's a madman." There were
some, however, that pitied him because of his youth; and one
among the company said to him, "My son, you must certainly be
crazed, you do not consider what you say. Is it possible that a
man could yesterday be at Bussorah, the same night at Cairo, and
this morning at Damascus? Surely you are asleep still, come rouse
up your spirits." "What I say," answered Buddir ad Deen Houssun,
"is so true that last night I was married in the city of Cairo."
All those who laughed before, could not forbear again at this
declaration. "Recollect yourself," said the same person who spoke
before; "you must have dreamt all this, and the fancy still
possesses your brain." "I am sensible of what I say," answered
the young man. "Pray can you tell me how it was possible for me
to go in a dream to Cairo, where I am very certain I was in
person, and where my bride was seven times brought before me,
each time dressed in a different habit, and where I saw an ugly
hump backed fellow, to whom they intended to give her? Besides, I
want to know what is become of my vest, my turban, and the bag of
sequins I had at Cairo?"

Though he assured them that all these things were matters of
fact, yet they could not forbear to laugh at him: which put him
into such confusion, that he knew not what to think of all those
adventures.

After Buddir ad Deen Houssun had confidently affirmed all that he
said to be true, he rose up to go into the town, and every one
who followed him called out, "A madman, a fool." Upon this some
looked out at their windows, some came to their doors, and others
joined with those that were about him, calling out as they did,
"A madman;" but not knowing for what. In this perplexity the
affrighted yo