"'Has my lord a pass from Sheik Ayoub?' said I.
"'Am I a trader to need a pass?' said he; 'I am a poor man.'
"'God is merciful, O Sheik!' said I; 'as you are a poor man I will only take your nose-bag.'
"'The nose-bag of my horse!' said he, turning pale; 'know you not that it is unlucky to part with that? I will redeem it; behold three dirhems, the price of the sheep, take them.'
"'No,' said I; 'I must have the nose-bag.'
"'I will give you the hayk,' said he, 'or my caftan of cloth, for I fear ill-luck to my horse.'
"'No, by Allah!' said I; 'I will not plunder a poor man, nothing but the nose-bag: have I not sworn?' and I hooked it from his pommel with the end of my gun. 'And now, Sheik Abdallah,' said I, 'follow me, your nose-bag shall be restored, and no harm shall befall your horse.' Then his face brightened, and he followed me joyfully. When we came to a place among the trees where there was a surface of smooth sand, I dismounted my men, and the horses being all tied up, I traced a circle on the sand, and made the men all sit around, and thus I addressed the unfortunate one:—
"'You wonder, perhaps, why I would only take from you your nose-bag—but know, O Sheik Abdallah, that I am a man of a charitable disposition, but possessed of no property except a ring, which once belonged to Allah ed Deen; and as I was desirous of repairing the sanctuary of our patron saint, and building a fountain for wayfarers, I rubbed the ring, when, lo, one of the jinn, the slave of the ring, appeared, and stood before me with his hands crossed on his breast, and his eyes looking on the ground, saying,—
"'I hear and obey.'