Being destitute and unprovided of every thing, I had recourse to my dear sister Zobeide, who gave your majesty just now an account of her adventures; to her I made known my misfortune; she received me with her accustomed goodness, and advised me to bear it with patience. This is the way of the world, said she, which either robs us of our means, our friends, or our lovers, and oftentimes of all at once; and at the same time, to confirm what she had said, she gave me an account of the loss of the young prince, occasioned by the jealousy of her two sisters; she told me also by what accident they were transformed into bitches; and, in the last place, after a thousand testimonials of her love towards me, she showed me my youngest sister, who had likewise taken sanctuary wish her after the death of her mother. Thus we gave God thanks, who had brought us together again, resolving to live a single life, and never to separate any more, for we have enjoyed this peaceable way of living many years; and as it was my business to mind the affairs of the house, I always took pleasure to go myself, and buy in what we wanted. I happened to go abroad yesterday, and the things I bought I caused to be brought home by a porter, who proved to be a sensible and jocose fellow, and we kept him by us for a little diversion. Three calenders happened to come to our door as it began to grow dark, and prayed us to giye them shelter until next morning: we gave them entrance upon certain conditions, to which they agreed; and after we had made them sit down at the table by us, they gave us a concert of music after their fashion, and at the same time we heard a knocking at our gate. These were the three merchants of Moussol, men of a very good mien, who begged the same favour which the calenders had obtained before: we consented upon the same conditions, but neither of them kept their promise; and though we had power as well as justice on our side to punish them, yet we contented ourselves with demanding from them the history of their lives, and consequently bounded our revenge with dismissing them after they had done, and depriving them of the lodging they demanded.