Said, strong as was his desire to see his
father once more, rejoiced at the prospect of seeing Bagdad and its
famous ruler, Haroun-al-Raschid.

After a ten-days' journey, they arrived at their destination; and Said
was astonished at the magnificence of this city, then at the height of
its splendor. The merchant invited him to go with him to his house, and
Said gladly accepted the invitation; as it now occurred to him for the
first time, among the crowd of people, that with the exception of the
air, the water of the Tigris, and a lodging on the steps of the mosque,
nothing could be had without money.

The day after his arrival in Bagdad, as soon as he had dressed
himself--thinking that he need not be ashamed to show himself on the
streets of Bagdad in his splendid soldierly costume--the merchant
entered his room, looked at the handsome youth with a knavish smile,
stroked his beard and said: "That's all very fine, young man! but what
shall be done with you? You are, it appears to me, a great dreamer,
taking no thought for the morrow; or have you money enough with you to
support such style as that?"

"Dear Kalum-Bek," replied the young man, greatly disconcerted, "I
certainly have no money, but perhaps you will furnish me with the means
to reach home; my father would surely repay you."

"Your father, fellow?" cried the merchant, with a loud laugh. "I think
the sun must have scorched your brain. Do you think I would take your
simple word for that yarn you spun me in the desert--that your father
was a rich citizen of Balsora, you his only son?--and about the attack
of the robbers, and your life with the tribe, and this, that, and the
other? Even then I felt very angry at your frivolous lies and utter
impudence. I know that all the rich people in Balsora are traders; I
have had dealings with all of them, and should have heard of a Benezar,
even if he had not been worth more than six thousand Tomans. It is,
therefore, either a lie that you hail from Balsora, or else your father
is a poor wretch, to whose runaway son I would not lend a copper. Then,
too, the attack in the desert! Who ever heard, since the wise Caliph
Haroun has made the trade routes across the desert safe, that robbers
dared to plunder a caravan and lead the men off into captivity? And
then, too, it would have been known; but on my entire journey, as well
as here in Bagdad, where people gather from all parts of the world,
there has not been a word said about