There was once in olden time a certain Cheat, who could turn the ear inside out by his talk, and he was a model of cleverness and quick wit and skill and mischief. It was his wont to enter a town and make a show of being a trader and engage in intimacy with people of worth and sit in session with the merchants, for his name was noted as a man of virtue and piety. Then he would put a sleight on them and take of them what he might spend and fare forth to another stead; and he did not stop to do thus for a while of time. It chanced one day that he entered a certain city and sold somewhat that was with him of merchandise and made friends of the merchants of the place and took to sitting with them and entertaining them and inviting them to his quarters and his assembly, whilst they also invited him to their houses. He abode after such fashion a long time until he was minded to quit the city; and this was bruited among his intimates, who grieved for parting from him. Then he betook himself to one of them who was the richest in substance and the most conspicuous for generosity, and sat with him and borrowed his goods; and when rising to depart, he bade him return the deposit that he had left with him. the merchant said, "And what is the deposit?" and the Cheat, said, " 'Tis such a purse, with the thousand dinars within it."

The merchant asked, "And when did you give me that same?" and the Cheat answered, "Extolled be Allah of All Might! Was it not on such a day, by such a token which is thus and thus?" The man rejoined, "I know nothing of this," and words were bandied about between them, whilst the folk who heard them disputed together concerning their sayings and doings, till their voices rose high and the neighbours had knowledge of that which passed between them. Then said the Cheat, "O people, this is my friend and I deposited with him a deposit which he denies having received: so in whom shall men put trust after this?" And they said, "This person is a man of worth and we have known in him nothing but trustiness and good faith and the best of breeding, and he is endowed with sense and manliness. Indeed, he affirms no false claim, for that we have consorted and associated with him and he with us and we know the sincerity of his religion." Then one of them to the merchant said, "Ho, Such-an-one! Bethink you of the past and refresh your memory. It cannot be that you have forgotten."

But He said, "O people, I know nothing of what he says, for indeed he deposited nothing with me:" and the matter was prolonged between them. Then said the Cheat to the merchant, "I am about to travel and I have, praised be Allah Almighty, much wealth, and this money shall not escape me; but do you make oath to me." And the folk said, "Indeed, this man does justice upon himself." Whereupon the merchant fell into that which he disliked and came almost loss and ill fame. Now he had a friend, who pretended to sharpness and intelligence; so he came up to him secretly and said to him, "Let me do so I may cheat this Cheat, for I know him to be a liar and you are near upon having to weigh out the gold; but I will parry off suspicion from you and say to him,

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The deposit is with me and you erredst in suspecting that it was with other than myself; and so I will divert him from you." The other replied, "Do so, and rid the people of such pretended debts." Accordingly the friend turned to the Cheat and said to him, "O my lord, I am Such an one, and you go under a delusion. The purse is with me, for it was with me that you depositedst it, and this Shaykh is innocent of it." But the Cheat answered him with impatience and impetuosity, saying, "Extolled be Allah! As for the purse that is with you, O noble and faithful man, I know 'tis under Allah's charge and my heart is easy anent it, because 'tis with you as it were with me; but I began by demanding the purse which I deposited with this man, of my knowledge that he covets the goods of folk." At this the friend was confounded and put to silence and returned not a reply; and the only result of his meddling was that each of them—merchant and friend—had to pay a thousand gold pieces. So the Cheat took the two thousand dinars and made off; and when he was gone, the merchant said to his friend, the man of pretended sharpness and intelligence, "Ho, Such-an-one! You and I are like the Falcon and the Locust." The friend asked, "What was their case?" and the merchant answered with