There was once upon a time a sparrow, that used every day to visit a certain king of the birds and did not stop to wait upon him in the mornings and not to leave him till the evenings, being the first to go in and the last to go out. One day, a company of birds chanced to assemble on a high mountain and one of them said to another, "truly, we are grew many, and many are the differences between us, and there is no help for it but we have a king to look into our affairs; so shall we all be at one and our differences will disappear." Thereupon up came that sparrow and counselled them to choose for King the peacock (that is, the prince he used to visit). So they chose the peacock to their King and he, become their sovereign, bestowed largesse on them and made the sparrow his secretary and Prime Minister. Now the sparrow was wont bytimes to quit his assiduous service in the presence and look into matters in general. So one day he absented himself at the usual time, at which the peacock was sore troubled; and, while things stood thus, he returned and the peacock said to him, "What has delayed you, and you the nearest to me of all my servants and the dearest of all my dependents?"
The sparrow replied, "I have seen a thing which is doubtful to me and at which I am affrighted." The peacock asked, "What was it you saw?"; and the sparrow answered, "I saw a man set up a net, close by my nest, peg down its pegs, strew grain in its midst and withdraw afar off. And I sat watching what he would do when behold, fate and fortune drave there a crane and his wife, which fell into the midst of the net and began to cry out; whereupon the fowler rose up and took them. This troubled me, and such is the reason of my absence from you,but never again will I abide in that nest for fear of the net." Rejoined the peacock, "Depart not your dwelling, for against fate and lot forethought will avail you nothing." And the sparrow obeyed his bidding and said, "I will immediately arm myself with patience and forbear to depart in obedience to the King." So he did not stop taking care of himself, and carrying food to his sovereign, who would eat what sufficed him and after feeding drink his water and dismiss the sparrow. Now one day as he was looking into matters, lo and behold! he saw two sparrows fighting on the ground and said in his mind,
"How can I, who am the King's Wazir, look on and see sparrows fighting in my neighbourhood? By God, I must make peace between them!" So he flew down to reconcile them; but the fowler cast the net over the whole number and the sparrow happened to be in their very midst. Then the fowler arose and took him and gave him to his comrade, saying, "Take care of him, I never saw fatter or finer." But the sparrow said to himself, "I have fallen into that which I feared and none but the peacock inspired me with false confidence. It availed me nothing to beware of the stroke of fate and fortune, since even he who takes precaution may never flee from destiny. And how well said the poet in this poetry,
'whatever is not to be shall never become; No wise! and that to be must come to pass Yea, it shall come to pass at time ordained, And th' Ignoramus aye shall cry 'Alas!' "
Whereupon the King said, "O Shahrazad, recount me other of these tales!"; and she said, "I will do so during the coming night, if life be granted to me by the King whom Allah bring to honour!"—
When it was the One Hundred and Fifty third night
She said:—I will relate the