After he had travelled three days toward home, the fourth day was very hot. And the merchant was so much distressed by the heat that he turned aside into a garden by the wayside to rest himself under the shade of some trees he saw there. He made his resting place under the shade of a large nut-tree, he fastened his horse so that he could not run, and then opening his scrip, he took out one or two biscuits and a few dates to make a meal. He ate the biscuits and the dates, and threw the date-stones right and left upon the ground. Then, having satisfied himself with his frugal repast, he stood up and washed himself, and then knelt down and said his prayers.
He had not finished his prayers, but was still upon his knees, when he saw before him an immense genie, so large that while his feet were on the ground, his head was in the clouds, and so old that he was white with age. He held in his hand a long drawn sword, and before the merchant could move, the genie cried out to him,—
"Stand up, that I may kill you with this sword, as you have killed my son!"
When the merchant heard these words of horror he was terrified by them as much as he had been at the sight of the monster; but in the midst of his terror he stammered out, "O my lord, what is my crime? why do you kill me?"
Then the genie replied again, "I will kill you, as you have killed my son."
Then the merchant said, "Who has killed your son?"
And the genie answered, "You."
"O my lord," said the poor merchant, "I never saw your son, and I do not know who he is."
But the genie said, "You have killed him."
Then the merchant said, "My lord, by the living Allah, I have not killed him. How and where and when did I kill him?"