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It is also told that a money changer once had with him a purse full of gold. As he passed a band of thieves, one of the rogues said, “I can steal that purse.” “How will you do it?” they asked. “Watch,” he replied. Then he followed the money changer home. The money changer went inside and tossed the purse onto a raised bench. Being in urgent need of relieving himself, he went into the privy and called to the maidservant, “Bring me a pitcher of water.” She took the pitcher and followed him into the privy, leaving the door open. The thief slipped in, took the purse, and returned to his companions to tell them what had happened. And dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving her tale untold.

When it was the three hundred and forty-fifth night

She said: It has reached me, O fortunate King, that the thief took the purse and returned to his companions, telling them what had happened with the money changer and the maidservant. They said to him, “By Allah, that was a clever trick, and not everyone could have managed it. But by now the money changer will be coming out of the privy, and when he finds the purse gone, he will beat the maidservant and torment her cruelly. So you have done nothing worthy of praise. If you are truly clever, save the maidservant from her beating and torment.” He replied, “If Allah Most High wills it, I shall save both the maidservant and the purse.” Then the thief returned to the money changer’s house and found him punishing the maidservant over the purse. He knocked at the door, and the money changer called, “Who is there?” “I am the servant of your neighbor in the merchants’ arcade,” he answered. The money changer came out and asked, “What do you want?” The thief said, “My master sends you his greetings and says: ‘You are not yourself at all these days! How could you toss a purse like this down at your shop door and go away, leaving it there? Had some stranger found it, he would have taken it and gone. If my master had not seen it and kept it safe, you would have lost it.’” Then he brought out the purse and showed it to him. At the sight of it, the money changer said, “That is my very purse!” He stretched out his hand to take it, but the thief said, “By Allah, I will not give it to you until you write my master a receipt saying that you have received the purse from me. I fear he will not believe that you have taken it and received it unless you write me a receipt and stamp it with your seal.” So the money changer went inside to write him a receipt for the purse, as he had requested, and the thief went on his way with the purse, while the maidservant was spared further torment.