So the master went to sleep,
and three hours after awoke, when he called to his servant: "What are
you doing?" He answered: "I am meditating how Allah has spread the earth
upon the water." The master said: "I am afraid lest thieves come, and
you know nothing of it." "O my lord, be satisfied; I am on the watch."
The merchant again went to sleep, and awaking about midnight cried: "Ho!
what are you doing?" The servant replied: "I am considering how Allah
has supported the sky without pillars." Quoth the master: "But I am
afraid that while you are busy meditating thieves will carry off my
horse." "Be not afraid, master, I am fully awake; how, then, can thieves
come?" The master replied: "If you wish to sleep, I will keep watch."
But the servant would not hear of this; he was not at all sleepy; so his
master addressed himself once more to slumber; and when one hour of the
night yet remained he awoke, and as usual asked him what he was doing,
to which he coolly answered: "I am considering, since the thieves have
stolen the horse, whether I shall carry the saddle on my head, or you,
sir."
* * * * *
Somewhat akin to the familiar "story" of the man whose eyesight was so
extraordinary that he could, standing in the street, perceive a fly on
the dome of St.
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