Note 246
The Tale of the Envier and the Envied.
The Caliph Al-Maamún, who was a bad player, used to say, "I have the administration of the world and am equal to it, whereas I am straitened in the ordering of a space of two spans by two spans." The "board" was then "a square field of well-dressed leather."
Two hosts fare fighting thro' the livelong day * Nor is their battling ever finished, Until, when darkness girdeth them about, * The twain go sleeping in a single bed.[FN#246]
Return to passage