“O thou, who turnest away from me, for it is time’s nature to be fraught with turns,

And rebukest me for my foul treatment of those whom I had for neighbours, with the rebuke of the harsh:

Thou comprehendest me not in what I have done, but as for them, I know them full well:

Heretofore I sought their hospitality, and I saw them unheedful of their guests.

I probed them, and when I tested them I found them to be base coin.

Amongst them is none but who strikes terror when he can, or else is terror-stricken.

None sincere in friendship, none trustworthy, none benevolent, none kindly disposed.

So I sprang upon them the spring of the tearing wolf upon the sheep,

And left them prostrate, as if they had been made to drink the cup of death,

And my hand possessed itself of what they had hoarded, for they were the abhorrence of men’s nostrils.

Then I wended my way with booty sweet of cullings and reapings.

For sooth, often times I left behind me one wounded of entrails, who slunk after me when I had gone.

And despoiled the owners of state-chairs and carpets and curtains.

How much have I obtained by my cunning that was not obtained by the sword,

And stood my ground in terrors, such that lions would shrink from facing.

How often have I shed blood, and slain unawares and desecrated the sanctuary of the high-minded;

How many a pernicious course have I taken into sin, how many a headlong rush,

But withal I have laid in a goodly opinion with regard to my Lord, the Compassionate.”

Said the narrator: Now when he had reached this couplet, he was excessive in weeping and persistent in asking for forgiveness, until he propitiated the inclina­tion of my heart that had turned from him, and I hoped for him that which is hoped for the guilty who confesses to his guilt. Thereupon he let subside his flowing tears, and putting his wallet under his arm-pit, he made off, saying to his son: “Carry the rest, and Allah be the protector.” Said the reporter of this tale: So when I saw the snake and the little snake slip away, and the cure terminate in the cautery, I knew that my tarrying in the Khân would drag me into ignominy. I, therefore, collected my few chattels, and gathered my skirt for departure, passing my night in faring towards Ṭîb, and relying on Allah against [the mischief of] the preacher.