Attaf and himself and he left not reading till he came to the time when the twain, host and guest, had parted and each had farewel'ed other and Attaf had fared homewards. Hereupon the Caliph cried to him, "Close the book at what place it completeth the recital of thy bidding adieu to Attaf and of his returning to his own place, so shalt thou understand how it was I said to thee, 'Near me not until thou bring that which is contained in this volume.'" Then the Commander of the Faithful restored the book to the Treasurer saying, "Take this and set it in the bibliotheca;" then, turning to Ja'afar he observed, "Verily Almighty Allah (be He glorified and magnified!) hath deigned show thee whatso I read therein until I fell a-weeping and a-laughing at one and the same time. So now do thou retire and hie thee home." Ja'afar did his bidding and reassumed the office of Wazir after fairer fashion than he was before. And now return we to the purport of our story as regardeth the designs of Attaf and what befel him when they took him out of gaol. They at once led him to the Kazi who began by questioning him, saying, "Woe to thee, didst thou murther this Háshimi?"[FN#370] Replied he, "Yes, I did!" "And why killedst thou him?" "I found him in yonder ruin, and I struck him advisedly and slew him!" "Art thou in thy right senses?" "Yea, verily." "What may be thy name?" "I am hight Attaf." Now when the Judge heard this confession, which was thrice repeated, he wrote a writ to the Mufti and acquainted him with the contention; and the divine after delivering his decision produced a book and therein indited the procès-verbal. Then he sent notice thereof to Ja'afar the Wair for official order to carry out the sentence and the Minister took the document and affixing his seal and signature thereto gave the order for the execution. So they bore Attaf away and led him to the gallows-foot whither he was followed by a world of folk in number as the dust; and, as they set him under the tree Ja'afar the Wazir, who was riding by with his suite at the time, suddenly espied a crowd going forth the city. Thereupon he summoned the Sobáshí[FN#371] who came up to him and kissed his knee. "What is the object of this gathering of folk who be manifold as the dust and what do they want?" quoth the Wazir; and quoth the officer, "We are wending to hang[FN#372] a Syrian who hath murthered a youth of Sharif family." "And who may be this Syrian?" asked the Wazir, and the other answered, "One hight Attaf." But when Ja'afar heard the word Attaf he cried out with a mighty loud outcry and said, "Hither with him." So after loosing the noose from his neck they set him before the Wazir who regarding him at once recognized his whilome host albeit he was in the meanest of conditions, so he sprang up and threw himself upon him and he in turn threw himself upon his sometime quest.[FN#373] "What condition be this?" quoth Ja'afar as soon