"I look to my money and keep it with care, * For right well I wot 'tis my buckler and brand: Did I lavish my dirhams on hostilest foes,[FN#25] * I should truck my good luck by mine ill luck trepanned: So I'll eat it and drink it and joy in my wealth; * And no spending my pennies on others I'll stand: I will keep my purse close 'gainst whoever he be; * And a niggard in grain a true friend ne'er I fand: Far better deny him than come to say:—Lend, * And five-fold the loan shall return to thy hand! And he turns face aside and he sidles away, * While I stand like a dog disappointed, unmanned. Oh, the sorry lot his who hath yellow-boys none, * Though his genius and virtues shine bright as the sun! "O my master," continued the Steward, "this lavish outlay and these magnificent gifts waste away wealth." When Nur al-Din Ali heard these words he looked at his servant and cried, "Of all thou hast spoken I will not heed one single word, for I have heard the saying of the poet who saith, 'An my palm be full of wealth and my wealth I ne'er bestow, * A palsy take my hand and my foot ne'er rise again! Show me niggard who by niggardise e'er rose to high degree, * Or the generous in gifts generosity hath slain.'" And he pursued, "Know, O Steward, it is my desire that so long as thou hast money enough for my breakfast, thou trouble me not with taking thought about my supper." Thereupon the Steward asked, "Must it be so?"; and he answered, "It must." So the honest man went his way and Nur al-Din Ali devoted himself to extravagance; and, if any of his cup-companions chanced to say, "This is a pretty thing;" he would reply, "'Tis a gift to thee!"; or if another said, "O my lord, such a house is handsome;" he would answer, "Take it: it is thine!" After this reckless fashion he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a banquet in the morning and a banquet in the evening and a banquet at midnight, till one day, as the company was sitting together, the damsel Anis al-Jalis repeated these lines, "Thou deemedst well of Time when days went well, * And feardest not what ills might deal thee Fate: Thy nights so fair and restful cozened thee, * For peaceful nights bring woes of heavy weight."