Now, as for my fourth brother, O Commander of the Faithful, al-Kuz al-aswani, the Long-Necked Goblet, so called because he talked excessively, he too was blind in one eye. He became a butcher in Baghdad, selling meat and fattening rams for sale. Great men and wealthy merchants bought their meat from him, and through this trade he amassed considerable wealth, gaining cattle and houses. For a long time he prospered in this way.

One day, as he sat in his shop, an old man with a long beard came in and laid down some silver, saying, "Give me meat worth this amount." My brother gave him the meat and the old man departed. My brother examined the silver and, seeing that the dirhams were white and shiny, he put them aside in a separate box. The bearded old man continued to come to his shop regularly for five months, and my brother carefully placed all the coins he received from him in that same box. At last, my brother decided to use the money to buy sheep. He opened the box and found it contained nothing but bits of white paper cut to look like coins.

My brother struck his face in despair and cried out loud until a crowd gathered. He told them his story, and they marvelled greatly at his deception. The next day, my brother slaughtered a ram and hung it inside his shop. He cut off some of the flesh and hung it outside, saying to himself, "O Allah, if only that cursed old man would come!" Within an hour, the old man appeared with his counterfeit silver in hand. My brother seized him and called out, "O men, come help me! Learn what this villain has done!" The old man calmly said to him, "What will be better for you—to release me now or be disgraced before all these people?" "How could you disgrace me?" asked my brother. The old man replied, "By telling them that you sell human flesh as mutton!" "You lie, you accursed wretch!" cried my brother. The old man said, "He is truly accursed who hangs human flesh in his shop like meat." My brother replied, "If what you say is true, then take my money and my life as you will." Then the old man cried out loudly, "O people! If you would know the truth of my words, look into this man's shop!"

The crowd rushed in and discovered that the ram had become the corpse of a dead man. They set upon my brother, crying, "O infidel! O villain!" Even his best friends began to beat and kick him, saying, "How could you make us eat the flesh of Adam's children?" The old man struck my brother on his seeing eye and put it out, blinding him completely. Then they carried the body, its throat cut, before the Chief of Police, to whom the old man said, "O Emir, this man butchers people and sells their flesh as mutton. We bring him before you now—execute the judgment of Allah, praise be to Him!" My brother tried to defend himself, but the Chief refused to listen. He sentenced my brother to receive five hundred lashes and to forfeit all his property. Had my brother not spent that very property in bribes, he would surely have been executed. The Chief then banished him from Baghdad.

My brother wandered from place to place until he came to a large city. There he decided to become a cobbler, so he opened a shop and worked to earn his living. One day, as he was attending to his business, he heard the distant sound of horses' hooves. He asked what was happening and was told that the King was riding out to hunt. My brother stopped to watch the magnificent procession. By chance, the King's eye fell upon my brother, and the King's face darkened. He bowed his head and said, "I seek refuge with Allah from the evil of this day!" Then he turned his horse around and rode back home with all his retinue.

The King immediately ordered his guards to seize my brother and beat him so severely that my brother nearly died. He had no idea why he was being beaten. After they released him, my brother returned to his place in terrible condition. Soon after, he went to someone in the King's household and asked what he had done wrong. The man laughed until he fell on his back and said, "O my brother, know that the King cannot bear to look upon a man with one eye, especially a man blind in the right eye. When the King sees such a person, he does not let him leave alive." Upon hearing this, my brother decided to flee that city. He left and went to another city where no one knew him, and he stayed there for a long time.

One day, heavy with sorrow for all that had befallen him, he went out for a walk to ease his heart. As he was walking, he heard the distant sound of horses' hooves behind him and thought, "The judgment of Allah has come upon me!" He looked about for somewhere to hide but found nothing. At last he saw a closed door and pushed hard against it. It gave way and he entered a long corridor to take shelter. Hardly had he done so when two men seized him and cried out, "Allah be praised for delivering you into our hands, O enemy of God! For three nights you have robbed us of our sleep and rest, truly making us taste death. You give us false coins, work to disgrace us, and plot to cut the throat of our master! Is it not enough that you and your gang have brought him to ruin? Now give us the knife with which you threaten us every night!" They searched him and found the knife he used for cutting leather in his cobbler's work. He said to them, "O people, fear Allah and do not mistreat me, for my story is most strange!" "What is your story?" they asked, so he told them everything that had befallen him, hoping they would release him. But they paid no attention and instead beat him severely and tore his clothes. When they saw the scars from the whipping on his body, they said, "O accursed! These marks are proof of your guilt!" They brought him before the Governor. My brother said to himself, "I am being punished for my sins, and only Allah can save me."

The Governor asked him, "O villain, why did you enter their house with the intention to murder?" My brother replied, "I beg you, O Emir, hear my words and do not judge me hastily!" But the Governor cried, "Should we listen to the words of a thief who has ruined these people, whose very body bears the scars of punishment? Surely they would not have marked you thus unless you had committed a great crime." He sentenced my brother to receive a hundred lashes with the whip. Then they set him on a camel and paraded him through the city, proclaiming, "This is the reward for one who breaks into homes to rob and murder—a punishment far too light for his crimes!" After that they drove him out of the city.

My brother wandered aimlessly until I heard of his plight. I went in search of him and questioned him about what had happened. He told me his entire story and all the misfortunes he had endured. I brought him secretly back to the city and gave him a daily allowance for food and drink. Then the Caliph agreed to hear