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It is also related that one day King al-Nasir summoned the three governors—the governor of Cairo, the governor of Bulaq, and the governor of Old Cairo—and said, “I wish each of you to tell me the strangest thing that happened to him during his term of office.” But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the three hundred and forty-third night,

She said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that King al-Nasir said to the three governors, “I wish each of you to tell me the strangest thing that happened to him during his term of office.” They answered, “We hear and obey.” Then the governor of Cairo said, “Know, my lord Sultan, that the strangest thing that happened during my term of office was this. In this city there were two accredited witnesses who gave testimony in cases of murder and bodily injury. Both were addicted to women, wine, and debauchery, yet I could devise no way of catching and punishing them, try as I might. So I instructed the wine merchants, the sellers of nuts and dried fruit, the fruit sellers, the candlemakers, and the keepers of houses of ill repute to inform me whenever these two witnesses were anywhere drinking or indulging in vice, whether together or separately. If they, or either one of them, bought anything used at a drinking party, they were not to conceal it from me. They replied, ‘We hear and obey.’ Then one night a man came to me and said, ‘My lord, the two witnesses are in such-and-such a place, in such-and-such a lane, at the house of so-and-so, and they are engaged in grave wrongdoing.’ I rose, disguised myself, and set out with my servant, taking no one else with me. I walked on until I reached the door and knocked. A slave girl came and opened it, asking, ‘Who are you?’ I entered without answering her and saw the two witnesses seated with the master of the house, with prostitutes beside them and a great quantity of wine. When they saw me, they rose to greet me, paid me every honor, and seated me in the place of distinction, saying, ‘Welcome, honored guest and delightful companion!’ They received me without the least fear or alarm. Then the master of the house left us for a while and returned with three hundred dinars, showing no sign of fear. They said, ‘Know, my lord Governor, that you have the power to do far more than expose us, and our punishment lies in your hands. Yet you will gain nothing from it but trouble. The wisest course is to take this sum and draw a veil over our conduct. For God Most High is the Concealer, and He loves those of His servants who conceal the faults of others. You will earn merit and reward.’ I said to myself, ‘Take their gold and overlook their conduct this once. If you catch them again, then punish them.’

“So greed for the money overcame me. I took it, left them, and went away without anyone knowing I had been there. The next day, to my surprise, the judge’s messenger came to me and said, ‘Governor, be so good as to come and speak with the judge, for he has summoned you.’ I rose and went with him, not knowing the reason for the summons. When I entered the judge’s presence, I saw the two witnesses sitting with him, together with the master of the house who had given me the three hundred dinars. The master of the house stood up and brought a claim against me for three hundred dinars, and I could find no way to deny it. A written deposition was drawn up, in which those two accredited witnesses testified that I owed him three hundred dinars. On the strength of their testimony, the judge upheld the claim and ordered me to pay the sum. I did not leave until they had taken the three hundred dinars from me. I was furious and wished them every evil, bitterly regretting that I had not made an example of them. I went away utterly ashamed, and this is the strangest thing that happened to me during my term of office.”

Then the governor of Bulaq rose and said, “As for me, my lord Sultan, the strangest thing that happened during my term of office was that my debts mounted to three hundred thousand dinars. This brought me great distress, and I sold everything I possessed, all that I had in the world, but raised no more than a hundred thousand dinars.” But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the three hundred and forty-fourth night,

She said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the governor of Bulaq said, “I sold everything I possessed, but raised no more than a hundred thousand dinars, and was left in great perplexity. One night, as I sat at home in this unhappy state, someone knocked at the door. I said to one of my servants, ‘See who is at the door.’ He went out and returned pale-faced, his color changed and his whole body trembling. ‘What has happened to you?’ I asked. He replied, ‘At the door is a man, bare but for leather garments, carrying a sword and wearing a knife at his waist. With him is a band of men dressed like him, and he asks for you.’ I took my sword in my hand and went out to see who these men were. They were just as the servant had described them. ‘What is your business?’ I asked. They said, ‘We are thieves, and tonight we have taken a great haul of booty. We have set it aside for you, to help you out of the difficulty that is weighing upon you and enable you to pay your debts.’ I asked, ‘Where is the booty?’ They brought me a large chest filled with gold and silver vessels. At the sight of it I rejoiced and said to myself, ‘With this I can pay my debts and still have as much again left over.’ I took the chest and carried it into the house. Then I thought, ‘It would be ungenerous to let them go away empty-handed.’ So I fetched the hundred thousand dinars I had and gave them the money, thanking them for what they had done. They took the dinars and went their way under cover of night, without anyone knowing of their visit. But when morning came, I found that the contents of the chest were copper plated with gold and tin, and that the whole lot was worth only five hundred dirhams. This was a terrible blow to me. The dinars I had possessed were gone, and sorrow was added to my sorrow. This is the strangest thing that happened to me during my term of office.”

Then the governor of Old Cairo rose and said, “My lord Sultan, the strangest thing that happened to me during my term of office was this. I had ten thieves hanged, each on a separate gibbet, and ordered the guards to watch over them and let no one carry any of them away. The following day I went to inspect them and saw two men hanging from a single gibbet. I said to the guards, ‘Who did this? And where is the gibbet on which the second man was hanging?’ They denied all knowledge of the matter, so I was about to have them beaten when they said, ‘Know, my lord, that last night we fell asleep. When we awoke, we found that one of the hanged men had been stolen, together with the gibbet on which he hung. We were afraid of you. Just then a peasant came along the road with a donkey, so we seized him, killed him, and hanged him on this gibbet in place of the man who had been stolen.’ I was astonished and asked them, ‘What did the peasant have with him?’ They replied, ‘He had a pair of saddlebags on the donkey.’ ‘And what was in them?’ I asked. ‘We do not know,’ they said. ‘Bring them to me,’ I ordered. They brought them before me, and I had them opened. Inside was the dismembered body of a murdered man. When I saw it, I marveled and said to myself, ‘Glory be to God! It was only his crime against this murdered man that brought the peasant to the gallows. Your Lord is never unjust to His servants.’”