"What kind of truthfulness is foul, though all kinds are fair?"—"That of a man glorying in that which he hath and vaunting himself thereof." Q "What is the foulest of foulnesses?"—"When a man boasteth himself of that which he hath not." Q "Who is the most foolish of men?"—"He who hath no thought but of what he shall put in his belly." Then said Shimas, "O King, verily thou art our King, but we desire that thou assign the kingdom to thy son after thee, and we will be thy servants and lieges." So the King exhorted the Olema and others who were in the presence to remember that which they had heard and do according thereto and enjoined them to obey his son's commandment, for that he made him his heir-apparent,[FN#139] so he should be the successor of the King his sire; and he took an oath of all the people of his empire, literates and braves and old men and boys, to mention none other, that they would not oppose him in the succession nor transgress against his commandment. Now when the Prince was seventeen years old, the King sickened of a sore sickness and came nigh to die; so, being certified that his decease was at hand, he said to the people of his household, "This is disease of Death which is upon me; wherefore do ye summon my son and kith and kin and gather together the Grandees and Notables of my empire, so not one of them may remain except he be present." Accordingly they fared forth and made proclamation to those who were near and published the summons to those who were afar off, and they all assembled and went in to the King. Then said they to him, "How is it with thee, O King, and how deemest thou for thyself of these thy dolours?" Quoth Jali'ad, "Verily, this my malady is mortal and the shaft of death hath executed that which Allah Almighty decreed against me: this is the last of my days in the world here and the first of my days in the world hereafter." Then said he to his son, "Draw near unto me." So the youth drew near, weeping with weeping so sore, that he well nigh drenched the bed, whilst the King's eyes welled tears and all who were present wept. Quoth Jali'ad, "Weep not, O my son; I am not the first whom this Inevitable betideth; nay, it is common to all that Allah hath created. But fear thou the Almighty and do good deeds which shall precede thee to the place whither all creatures tend and wend. Obey not thy lusts, but occupy thy soul with lauding the Lord in thy standing up and thy sitting down, in thy waking and in thy sleeping. Make the Truth the aim of thine eyes; this is the last of my speech with thee and—The Peace."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. When it was the Nine Hundred and Seventeenth Night,