Has reached at length the walls of Bagdād,—home of taste.
The guards, the officers, on duty at the gate,
Received him with politeness, kindness delicate.
Without a question asked, his case they’d understood.
Their charge was to show kindness first, ere asked for food.535
So they addressed him thus: “Ho, thou, good Arab prince!
Whence comest thou? How fares it? Straight thy wish evince!”
He answered: “Prince I am, if you to me be kind;
But if you me contemn, I’m naught in my own mind.
Your aspects indicate you’re men of wealth and rank;