No, no, vizier, replies the king; I am certain that this man, whom you treat as a villain, and a traitor, is one of the best and most virtuous men in the world, and there is no man I love so much. You know by what medicine, or rather by what miracle, he cured me of my leprosy; if he had a design upon my life, why did he save me? He needed only have left me to my disease; I could not have escaped it; my life was already half gone. Forbear, then, to fill me with unjust suspicions: instead of listening to you, I tell you, that from this day forward I will give that great man a pension of a thousand sequins per month for his life; nay, though I were to share with him all my riches and dominions, I should never pay him enough for what he has done for me: I perceive it to be his virtue which raises your envy; but do not think that I will be unjustly possessed with prejudice against him. I remember too well what a vizier said to king Sinbad, his master, to prevent his putting to death the prince, his son. But, sir, says Scheherazade, day light appears, which forbids me to go any further. I am very well pleased that the Grecian king, says Dinarzade, had so much firmness of spirit, to reject the false accusation of the vizier. If you commend the firmness of that prince to-day, says Scheherazade, you will as much condemn his weakness to-morrow, if the sultan be pleased to allow me time to finish this story. The sultan, being curious to hear wherein the Grecian king discovered his weakness, did further delay the death of the sultaness. FOURTEENTH NIGHT. An hour before day, Dinarzade awaked her sister, and says to her, You will certainly be as good as your word, madam, and finish the story of the fisherman; to assist your memory, I will tell you where you left off: it was where the Grecian king maintained the innocence of his physician Douban against his vizier. I remember it, says Scheherazade, and am ready to give you satisfaction. Sir, continues she, addressing herself to Schahriar, what the Grecian king said about king Sinbad raised the vizier’s curiosity, who says to him, sir, I pray your majesty to pardon me, if I have the boldness to ask what the vizier of king Sinbad said to his master to divert him from cutting off the prince, his son. The Grecian king had the complaisance to satisfy him: That vizier, says he, after having represented to king Sinbad, that he ought to beware, lest on the accusation of a mother-in-law, he should commit an action which he might afterwards repent of, told him this story. The Story of the Husband and the Parrot.