Then said he to the fisherman，'Get thee about thy business！；and the man kissed the Caliph's feet and thanked him and improvised the following couplets，'Thou hast granted more favours than ever I craved；Thou hast satisfied needs which my heart enslaved：
I will thank thee and thank whileas life shall last，And my bones will praise thee in grave engraved！'
Hardly had the fisherman ended his verse，when the lice began to crawl over the Caliph's skin，and he fell to catching them on his neck with his right and left and throwing them from him，while he cried，'O fisherman，woe to thee！ what be this abundance of lice on thy gaberdine.''O my lord，'replied he，'they may annoy thee just at first，but before a week is past thou wilt not feel them nor think of them.'The Caliph laughed and said to him，'Out on thee！Shall I leave this gaberdine of thine so long on my body？'
Quoth the fisherman，'I would say a word to thee but I am ashamed in presence of the Caliph！'；and quoth he，'Say what thou hast to say.''It passed through my thought，O Commander of the Faithful，'said the fisherman，'that，since thou wishest to learn fishing so thou mayest have in hand an honest trade whereby to gain thy livelihood，this my gaberdine besitteth thee right well.'[57] The Commander of the Faithful laughed at this speech，and the fisherman went his way.Then the Caliph took up the basket of fish and，strewing a little green grass over it，carried it to Ja'afar and stood before him. Ja'afar thinking him to be Karim the fisherman feared for him and said，'O Karim，what brought thee hither？Flee for thy life，for the Caliph is in the garden to-night and，if he see thee，thy neck is gone.' At this the Caliph laughed and Ja'afar recognized him and asked，'Can it be thou，our lord the Sultan？'； and he answered，'Yes，O Ja'afar，and thou art my Wazir and I and thou came hither together； yet thou knowest me not； so how should Shaykh Ibrahim know me，and he drunk？Stay here，till I came back to thee.''To hear is to obey，'said Ja'afar.Then the Caliph went up to the door of the pavilion and knocked a gentle knock，whereupon said Nur al-Din，'
O Shaykh Ibrahim，some one taps at the door.'Who goes there？'
cried the Shaykh and the Caliph replied，'It is I，O Shaykh Ibrahim！''Who art thou，'quoth he，and quoth the other，'I am Karim the fisherman： I hear thou hast a feast，so I have brought thee some fish，and of a truth 'tis good fish.'When Nur al-Din heard the mention of fish，he was glad，he and the damsel，and they both said to the Shaykh，'O our lord，open the door and let him bring us his fish.'So Shaykh Ibrahim opened and the Caliph came in （and he in fisherman guise），and began by saluting them.
Said Shaykh Ibrahim，'Welcome to the blackguard，the robber，the dicer！Let us see thy fish.' So the Caliph showed them his catch and behold，the fishes were still alive and jumping，whereupon the damsel exclaimed，'By Allah！O my lord，these are indeed fine fish： would they were fried！'and Shaykh Ibrahim rejoined，'By Allah，O my lady，thou art right.' Then said he to the Caliph，'O fisherman，why didst thou not bring us the fish ready fried？Up now and cook them and bring them back to us.'
'On my head be thy commands！'said the Caliph，'I will fry thee a dish and bring it.' Said they，'Look sharp.'Thereupon he went and ran till he came up to Ja'afar when he called to him，'Hallo，Ja'afar！'and he replied，'Here am I，O Commander of the Faithful，is all well？''They want the fish fried，'said the Caliph，and Ja'afar answered，'O Commander of the Faithful，give it to me and I'll fry it for them.' 'By the tombs of my forbears，'quoth the Caliph，'none shall fry it but I，with mine own hand！'So he went to the gardener's hut，where he searched and found all that he required，even to salt and saffron and wild marjoram and else besides.Then he turned to the brasier and，setting on the frying-pan，fried a right good fry.When it was done，he laid it on a banana-leaf，and gathering from the garden wind-fallen fruits，limes and lemons，carried the fish to the pavilion and set the dish before them.So the youth and the damsel and Shaykh Ibrahim came forward and ate； after which they washed their hands and Nur al-Din said to the Caliph，'By Allah，O fisherman，thou hast done us a right good deed this night.'
Then he put hand in pouch and，taking out three of the dinars which Sanjar had given him，said，'O fisherman，excuse me.By Allah had I known thee before that which hath lately befallen me，I had done away the bitterness of poverty from thy heart； but take thou this as the best I can do for thee.' Then he threw the gold pieces to the Caliph，who took them and kissed them and put them in pouch. Now his sole object in doing all this was to hear the damsel sing； so he said to Nur al-Din，'Thou hast rewarded me most liberally，but I beg of thy boundless bounty that thou let this damsel sing an air，that I may hear her.'[58]So Nur al-Din said，'O Anis al-Jalis！'and she answered 'Yes！'and he continued，'By my life，sing us something for the sake of this fisherman who wisheth so much to hear thee.'Thereupon she took the lute and struck the strings，after she had screwed them tight and tuned them，and sang these improvised verses，'The fawn of a maid hent her lute in hand And her music made us right mettlesome：
For her song gave hearing to ears stone-deaf，While Brava！
Brava！ exclaimed the dumb.'
Then she played again and played so ravishingly，that she charmed their wits and burst out improvising and singing these couplets，'You have honoured us visiting this our land，And your splendour illumined the glooms that blent：
So 'tis due that for you I perfume my place With rose-water，musk and the camphor-scent！'
