Once upon a time I entered a vineyard to eat of its grapes; and whilst so doing behold, I saw a falcon stoop upon a partridge and seize him; but the partridge escaped from the seizer and, entering his nest, hid himself there. The falcon followed apace and called out to him, saying, "O imbecile, I saw you an hungered in the wold and took pity on you; so I picked up for you some grain and took hold of you that you might eat; but you fleddest from me; and I know not the cause of your flight, except it were to put upon me a slight. Come out, then, and take the grain I have brought you to eat and much good may it do you, and with your health agree."

When the partridge heard these words, he believed and came out to him, whereupon the falcon struck his talons into him and seized him. The partridge cried, "Is this that which you told me you had brought me from the wold, and whereof you bade me eat, saying, 'Much good may it do you, and with your health agree?' You have lied to me, and may Allah cause what you eat of my flesh to be a killing poison in your maw!" So when the falcon had eaten the partridge, his feathers fell off and his strength failed and he died on the spot. "Know, then, O wolf!" (pursued the fox), "that he who diggs for his brother a pit himself soon falls into it, and you first deceivedst me in mode unfit." the wolf said, "Spare me this discourse nor saws and tales enforce, and remind me not of my former ill course, for suffics me the sorry plight I endure Of necessity, seeing that I am fallen into a place, in which even my foe would pity me, much more a true friend. Rather find some trick to deliver me and be you by that my saviour. If this cause you trouble, remember that a true friend will undertake the sorest travail for his true friend's sake and will risk his life to deliver him from evil; and indeed it has been said, 'A leal friend is better than a real brother.'

So if you stir yourself to save me and I be saved, I will forsure gather you such store as shall be a provision for you against want however sore; and truly I will teach you rare tricks by which to open whatever bounteous vineyards you please and strip the fruit laden trees." Rejoined the fox, laughing, "How excellent is what the learned say of him who abounds in ignorance like unto you!" The wolf asked, "What do the wise men say?" And the fox answered, "They have observed that the gross of body are gross of mind, far from intelligence and close to ignorance. As for your saying, O you stupid, cunning idiot! That a true friend should undertake sore travail for his true friend's sake, it is truth as you say, but tell me, of yours ignorance and poverty of intelligence, how can I be a true friend to you, considering your treachery. Do you count me your true friend? Nay, I am your foe who joys in your woe; and could you trow it, this word were sorer to you than slaughter by shot of shaft. As for your promise to provide me a store against want however sore and teach me tricks, to plunder whatever bounteous vineyards I please, and spoil fruit laden trees, how comes it, O guileful traitor, that you know not a wile to save yourself from destruction? How far are you from profiting yourself and how far am I from accepting your counsel! If you have any tricks, make shift for yourself to save you from the risk? wherefrom I pray Allah to make yours escape far distant!

So look, O fool, if there be any trick with you; and therewith save yourself from death before you lavish instruction upon your neighbours. But you are like a certain man attacked by a disease, who went to another diseased with the same disease, and said to him, 'Shall I heal you of your disease?' Replied the sick man, 'Why do you not begin by healing yourself?' So he left him and went his way. And you, O ignorant wolf, art like this; so stay where you are and under what has befallen you be of good heart!" When the wolf heard what the fox he said knew that from him he had no hope of favour; so he wept for himself, saying, "truly, I have been heedless of my weal; but if Allah deliver me from this ill I will assuredly repent of my arrogance towards those who are weaker than I, and will wear woollens and go upon the mountains, celebrating the praise of Almighty Allah and fearing His punishment. And I will withdraw from the company of other wild beasts and forsure will I feed the poor fighters for the Faith." Then he wept and wailed, till the heart of the fox softened when he heard his humble words and his professions of penitence for his past insolence and arrogance.

So he took pity upon him and sprang up joyfully and, going to the brink of the breach, squatted down on his hind quarters and let his tail hang in the hole; whereupon the wolf arose and putting out his paw, pulled the fox's tail, so that he fell down in the pit with him. Then The wolf said, "O fox of little mercy, why did you exult in my misery, you that were my companion and under my dominion? Now you are fallen into the pit with me and retribution has soon overtaken you. truly, the sages have said, 'If one of you reproach his brother with sucking the dugs of a bitch, he also shall suck her.' And how well the poet said

'When Fortune weighs heavy on some of us, And makes camel kneel by some other one Say to those who rejoice in our ills:—Awake! The rejoicer shall suffer as we have done!'

And death in company is the best of things; Why I will certainly and assuredly hasten to slay you before you see me slain." Said the fox to himself, "Ah! Ah! I am fallen into the snare with this tyrant, and my case calls for the use of craft and cunning; for indeed it is said that a woman fashions her jewellery for the day of display, and the proverb said, 'I have not kept you, O my tear, save for the time when distress draws near.' And unless I make haste to circumvent this prepotent beast I am lost without recourse; and how well says the poet,

"Make your game by guile, for you'rt born in a Time Whose sons are lions in forest lain; And turn on the leat of your knavery That the mill of subsistence may grind your grain; And pluck the fruits or, if out of reach, Why, cram your maw with the grass on plain.'"

Then said the fox to the wolf, "Hasten not to slay me, for that is not the way to pay me and you would repent it, O you valiant wild beast, lord of force and exceeding prowess! If you accord delay and consider what I shall say, you will ken what purpose I proposed; but if you hasten to kill me it will profit you nothing and we shall both die in this very place." Answered the wolf "O you wily trickster, what garrs you hope to work my deliverance and yours own, that you prayest me to grant you delay? Speak and propound to me your purpose." The fox replied, "As for the purpose I proposed, it was one which deserves that you guerdon me handsomely for it; for when I heard your promises and your confessions of your past misdeeds and regrets for not having earlier repented and done good; and when I heard you vowing, should you escape from this strait, to leave harming your fellows and others; forswear the eating of grapes and of all kinds fruits; devote yourself to humility; cut your claws and break your dog teeth; don woollens and offer yourself as an offering to Almighty Allah, then indeed I had pity upon you, for true words are the best words. And although before I had been anxious for your destruction, when as I heard your repenting and your vows of amending should Allah vouchsafe to save you, I felt bound to free you from this your present plight.

So I let down my tail, that you might grasp it and be saved. Yet would you not quit your wonted violence and habit of brutality; nor sought you to save yourself by fair means, but you gave me a tug which I thought would sever body from soul, so that you and I are fallen into the same place of distress and death. And now there is but one thing can save us and, if you accept it of me, we shall both escape; and after it behoves you to fulfil the vows you have made and I will be your veritable friend." The wolf asked, "What is it you proposest for my acceptance?" The fox answered, "It is that you stand up at full height till I come near on a level with the surface of the earth. Then will I give a spring and reach the ground; and, when out of the pit, I will bring you what you may lay hold of, and thus will you make yours escape." Rejoined the wolf, "I have no faith in your word, for sages have said, 'whoever practises trust in the place of hate, errs;' and, 'whoever trusts in the untrustworthy is a dupe; he who he tries him who has been tried shall reap repentance and his days shall go waste; and he who cannot distinguish between case and case, giving each its due, and assigns all the weight to one side, his luck shall be little and his miseries shall be many.' How well says the poet,

'Let your thought be ill and none else but ill; For suspicion is best of the worldling's skill: nothing casts a man into perilous place But good opinion and (worse) good will!'

And the saying of another,

'Be sure all are villains and so bide safe; Who lives wide awake on few Ills shall light: Meet your foe with smiles and a smooth fair brow, And in heart raise a host for the battle dressed!'

And that of yet another,

'He you trusted most is your worst unfriend; 'Ware all and take heed with whom you go: Fair opinion of Fortune is feeble sign; So believe her ill and her Ills perpend!'

the fox said, "truly mistrust and ill opinion of others are not to be commended in every case; nay trust and confidence are the characteristics of a noble nature and the issue of it is freedom from stress of fear. Now it behoves you, O you wolf, to devise some device for your deliverance from this you are in, and our escape will be better to us both than our death: so quit your distrust and rancour; for if you trust in me one of two things will happen; either I shall bring you something whereof to lay hold and escape from this case, or I shall abandon you to your doom. But this thing may not be, for I am not safe from falling into some such strait as this you are in, which, indeed, would be fitting punishment of perfidy. Of a truth the adage says, 'Faith is fair and faithlessness is foul.' So it behoves you to trust in me, for I am not ignorant of the haps and mishaps of the world; and delay not to contrive some device for our deliverance, as the case is too close to allow further talk." The wolf replied, "For all my want of confidence in your fidelity, truly I knew what was in your mind and that you were moved to deliver me whenas you heard my repentance, and I said to myself, 'If what he asserts be true, he will have repaired the ill he did; and if false, it rests with the Lord to requite him.' So, look'ee, I have accepted your proposal and, if you betray me, may your traitorous deed be the cause of your destruction!" Then the wolf stood bolt upright in the pit and, taking the fox upon his shoulders, raised him to the level of the ground, whereupon

Reynard gave a spring from his back and lighted on the surface of the earth. When he found himself safely out of the cleft he fell down senseless and the wolf said to him, "O my friend! Neglect not my case and delay not to deliver me." The fox laughed with a loud haw haw and replied, "O dupe, nothing threw me into your hands save my laughing at you and making mock of you; for in good truth when I heard you profess repentance, mirth and gladness seized me and I frisked about and made merry and danced, so that my tail hung low into the pit and you caught hold of it and draggedst me down with you. And the end was that Allah Almighty delivered me from your power. Then why should I be other than a helper in your destruction, seeing that you are of Satan's host? I dreamt yesterday that I danced at your wedding and I told my dream to an interpreter who said to me, 'truly you will fall into imminent deadly danger and you will escape from it.' So now I know that my falling into your hand and my escape are the fulfilment of my dream, and you, O imbecile know me for your foe; so how could you, of yours ignorance and unintelligence, nurse desire of deliverance at my hands, after all you have heard of harsh words from me; and Why should I attempt your salvation whenas the sages have said, 'In the death of the wicked is rest for mankind and a purge for the earth? But, were it not that I fear to bear more affliction by keeping faith with you than the sufferings which follow perfidy, I had done my endeavour to save you." When the wolf heard this, he bit his forehand for repentance.—,

When it was the One Hundred and Fifties night

The fox replied, "O ignoramus, in good truth jesting has a limit which the jester must not overpass; and deem not that Allah will again give you possession of me after having once delivered me from your hand." the wolf said, "It behoves you to compass my release, by reason of our brotherhood and good fellowship; and, if you release me, I will assuredly make fair your recompense." the fox said, "Wise men say, 'Take not to brother the wicked fool, for he will disgrace you in lieu of gracing you; nor take to brother the liar for, if you do good, he will conceal it; and if you do ill he will reveal it.' And again, the sages have said, 'There is help for everything but death: all may be warded off, except Fate.' As for the reward you declarest to be my due from you, I compare you in this with the serpent which fled from the charmer. A man saw her affrighted and said to her, 'What ails you, O you serpent?' she replied, 'I am fleeing from the snake charmer, for he seeks to trap me and, if you will save me and hide me with you, I will make fair your reward and do you all manner of kindness.' So he took her, incited thereto by lust for the recompense and eager to find favour with Heaven, and set her in his breast pocket. Now when the charmer had passed and had go on their way and the serpent had no longer any cause to fear, he said to her, 'Where is the reward you did promise me? Behold, I have saved you from that you fearedest and sought to fly.' she replied, Tell me in what limb or in what place shall I strike you with my fangs, for you know we exceed not that recompense.' So saying, she gave him a bite whereof he died. And I liken you, O dullard, to the serpent in her dealings with that man. Have you not heard what the poet says?

'Trust not to man when you have raised his spleen And wrath, nor that 'twill cool do you misween: Smooth feels the viper to the touch and glides With grace, yet hides she deadliest venene.' "

the wolf said, "O you glib of gab and fair of face, ignore not my case and men's fear of me; and well you weetest how I assault the strongly walled place and uproot the vines from base. Why, do as I bid you, and stand before me even as the thrall stands before his lord." the fox said, "O stupid dullard who seek a vain thing, I marvel at your folly and your front of brass in that you bid me serve you and stand up before you as I were a slave bought with your silver; but soon will you see what is in store for you, in the way of cracking your sconce with stones and knocking out your traitorous dog teeth." So saying the fox clomb a hill overlooking the vineyard and standing there, shouted out to the vintagers; nor did he give over shouting till he woke them and they, seeing him, all came up to him in haste. He stood his ground till they drew near him and close to the pit in which was the wolf; and then he turned and fled. So the folk looked into the cleft and, spying the wolf, set to pelting him with heavy stones, and they did not stop smiting him with stones and sticks, and stabbing him with spears, till they killed him and went away. Thereupon the fox returned to that cleft and, standing over the sport where his foe had been slain, saw the wolf dead: so he wagged his head for very joyance and began to recite these couplets,

"Fate the Wolf's soul snatched up from wordly stead; Far be from bliss his soul that perished! Abu Sirhán! how sore you sought'st my death, You, burnt this day in fire of sorrow dread: You'rt fallen into pit, where all who fall Are blown by Death blast down among the dead."

Thenceforward the aforesaid fox abode alone in the vineyard until the hour of his death secure and fearing no hurt. And such are the adventures of the wolf and the fox. But men also tell a