Note 101 — THE TWO SISTERS WHO ENVIED THEIR CADETTE.[98]

This form of eaves-dropping, in which also the listener rarely hears any good of himself is, I need hardly now say, a favourite incident of Eastern storiology and even of history, e.g. Three men met together; one of them expressed the wish to obtain a thousand pieces of gold, so that he might trade with them; the other wished for an appointment under the Emir of the Moslems; the third wished to possess Yusuf’s wife, who was the handsomest of women and had great political influence. Yusuf, being informed of what they said, sent for the men, bestowed one thousand dinars on him who wished for that sum, gave an appointment to the other and said to him who wished to possess the lady: “Foolish man! what induced you to wish for that which you can never obtain?” He then sent him to her and she placed him in a tent where he remained three days, receiving, each day, one and the same kind of food. She had him then brought to her and said, “What did you eat these days past” He replied: “Always the same thing!”—“Well,” said she, “all women are the same thing.” She then ordered some money and a dress to be given him, after which, she dismissed him. (Ibn Khallikan iii. 463–64.)