As soon as I arrived at my lodging, my first care was to order my people to buy a good lamb, and several sorts of cakes, which I sent by a porter as a present to the lady. When that was done, I attended to my serious business till the owner of the ass came. Then I went along with him to the lady’s house, and was received by her with as much joy as before, and entertained with equal magnificence. Next morning I took leave, and left her another purse with fifty pieces of gold, and returned to my khan. I continued to visit the lady every day, and to leave her every time a purse with fifty pieces of gold, till the merchants whom I employed to sell my goods, and whom I visited regularly twice a week, owed me nothing: and, in short, I came at last to be moneyless, and hopeless of having any more. In this desperate condition, I walked out of my lodging, not knowing what course to take, and by chance went towards the castle, where there was a great crowd of people to see a show given by the sultan of Egypt. As soon as I came up to them, I wedged in among the crowd, and by chance happened to stand by a horseman well mounted, and handsomely clothed, who had upon the pommel of his saddle a bag, half open, with a string of green silk hanging out of it. I clapped my hand to the bag, concluding the silk twist might be the string of a purse within the bag: in the mean time, a porter with a load of wood upon his back, passed by the other side of the horse, so near that the gentleman on horseback was forced to turn his head towards him, to avoid being hurt, or having his clothes torn by the wood. In that moment did the devil tempt me; I took the string in one hand, and with the other laid open the mouth of the bag, and pulled out the purse so dexterously, that nobody perceived it. The purse was heavy, and I did not doubt but there was gold or silver in it. As soon as the porter had passed, the horseman, who probably had some suspicion of what I had done while his head was turned, presently put his hand to his bag, and finding his purse was gone, gave me such a blow that he knocked me down. This violence shocked all who saw it; some took hold of the horse’s bridle, to stop the gentleman, and asked him, what reason he had to strike me, or how he came to treat a Mussulman after that rate. Do not you trouble yourselves, said he briskly; I had reason for what I did: this fellow is a thief. At these words, I started up, and from my appearance, every one took my part, and cried out he was a liar, for that it was incredible a young man such as I, should be guilty of so base an action; but while they were holding his horse by the bridle to favour my escape, unfortunately passed by the judge, who seeing such a crowd about the gentleman on horseback and me, came up and asked what the matter was. Every body present reflected on the gentleman for treating me so unjustly upon the pretence of robbery.