he
palace of Rashid, who, as soon as he was informed of this, called for
eggs, and said to his courtiers: 'Here is Abu Nuwas at the door. Now
let each of you take an egg and place it under his body, and when he
enters I shall feign to be angry with all of you, and shall exclaim:
"Now lay eggs each of you, and if you do not I shall order you all to
be beheaded," and we shall see how he will behave.' Then the poet was
admitted, and the conversation continued. After a while, however, the
Khalif became angry, and manifested his displeasure by exclaiming:
'You are all like hens, and meddle with things that do concern you;
now lay eggs each of you, for that is your nature, or I shall order
your heads to be struck off.' Then he looked at the courtier on his
right, saying: 'You are the first; now lay an egg.' Accordingly he
made great efforts, and contorting his features, at last drew forth an
egg. Then the Khalif addressed the others successively in the same
manner, and when the turn of Abu Nuwas came, he struck his sides with
his hands, and crowing like a cock, said: 'My lord, hens are useless
without a cock. These are hens, and I am their cock.' Hereon the
Khalif burst out laughing, and approved of his excuse.

IV.

A certain king was much addicted to women, and one of his viziers
warned him of the danger. Shortly afterwards some of his concubines
observed that his behaviour towards them had changed, and one of them
said: 'My lord, what is this?' He replied: 'One of my viziers
(mentioning his name) advised me not to love you.' 'Then,' said the
girl, 'present me to him, O king, and do not reveal what I shall do to
him.' Accordingly he gave the girl away, and when the vizier was alone
with her, she made herself so amiable that he fell in love with her,
but she refused to grant him any favour except on condition of
allowing her first to ride on his back. He agreed. Accordingly she
bridled and saddled him, but meanwhile sent word to the king what was
taking place; and when he arrived he saw the vizier in the position
alluded to, and said: 'You warned me of the love of woman, and this is
the state I see you in.' The vizier replied: 'O king! this is just
what I warned you of!'

V.

Once a lion, a fox, and a wolf were associates in the chase, and after
they had killed an ass, a gazelle, and a hare, the lion said to the
wolf: 'Divide the prey among us;' whereon the latter said: 'The ass
will be yours, the hare the fox'