ow mighty is Thy majesty and how enduring Thy
dominion and how excellent Thy government! Verily, Thou favorest whom
Thou wilt of Thy servants, whereby the owner of this place abideth in
all joyance of life and delighteth himself with pleasant scents and
delicious meats and exquisite wines of all kinds. For indeed Thou
appointest unto Thy creatures that which Thou wilt and that which Thou
hast foreordained unto them; wherefore are some weary and others are at
rest, and some enjoy fair fortune and affluence whilst others suffer the
extreme of travail and misery, even as I do." And he fell to reciting:

How many by my labors, that evermore endure, All goods of
life enjoy and in cooly shade recline?
Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe, And
strange is my condition and my burden gars me pine:
Many others are in luck and from miseries are free, And Fortune
never loads them with loads the like o' mine:
They live their happy days in all solace and delight; Eat, drink,
and dwell in honor 'mid the noble and the digne:
All living things were made of a little drop of sperm, Thine
origin is mine and my provenance is thine;
Yet the difference and distance 'twixt the twain of us are far As
the difference of savor 'twixt vinegar and wine:
But at Thee, O God All-wise! I venture not to rail Whose ordinance
is just and whose justice cannot fail.

When Sindbad the Porter had made an end of reciting his verses, he bore
up his burden and was about to fare on, when there came forth to him
from the gate a little foot-page, fair of face and shapely of shape and
dainty of dress, who caught him by the hand, saying, "Come in and speak
with my lord, for he calleth for thee." The Porter would have excused
himself to the page, but the lad would take no refusal; so he left his
load with the doorkeeper in the vestibule and followed the boy into the
house, which he found to be a goodly mansion, radiant and full of
majesty, till he brought him to a grand sitting-room wherein he saw a
company of nobles and great lords, seated at tables garnished with all
manner of flowers and sweet-scented herbs, besides great plenty of
dainty viands and fruits dried and fresh and confections and wines of
the choicest vintages. There also were instruments of music and mirth,
and lovely slave-girls playing and singing. All the company was ranged
according to ran