by his side. Thereupon this man rose and sued me for three hundred dinars, nor was it in my power to deny the debt; for he produced a written obligation and his two companions, the legal witnesses, testified against me that I owed the amount. Their evidence satisfied the Kazi and he ordered me to pay the sum, nor did I leave the Court till they had of me the three hundred gold pieces. So I went away, in the utmost wrath and shame, vowing mischief and vengeance against them and repenting that I had not punished them. Such, then is the most remarkable event which befel me during my term of office." Thereupon rose the Chief of the Bulak Police and said, "As for me, O our lord the Sultan, the most marvellous thing that happened to me, since I became Wali, was as follows:" and he began
The Story of the Chief of the Bulak Police.
"I was once in debt to the full amount of three hundred thousand gold pieces;[FN#402] and, being distressed thereby, I sold all that was behind me and what was before me and all I hent in hand, but I could collect no more than an hundred thousand dinars"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
When it was the Three Hundred and Forty-fourth Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wali of Bulak continued: "So I sold all that was behind and before me, but could collect