When daylight therefore came, and the gates were opened, the people, coming forth, beheld a beautiful youth clad in his shirt, and with a cotton skull-cap without a turban. In consequence of his having been so long wakeful, he was now immersed in sleep; and when the people saw him, some said, Would that he had waited till he had put on his clothes!--another said, Objects of pity are the children of men of condition! Probably this youth hath just come forth from his drinking-place, on account of some business, and intoxication hath overcome him, and he hath wandered from the place to which he would go until he arrived at the gate of the city, and, finding it locked, hath slept here.--They had expressed various opinions respecting him, and were wondering at his case, when Bedr-ed-Deen awoke. Perceiving that he was at the gate of a city, and surrounded by men, he was astonished, and said, Where am I, O good people; and what is the cause of your assembling around me, and what hath befallen me among you? They answered, We saw thee at the call to morning-prayer lying at this gate asleep; and we know nothing more of thy case. Where wast thou sleeping this last night?--By Allah, O people, he replied, I was sleeping this last night in Cairo.--On hearing this, one of them said, Dost thou eat ḥasheesh?[IV_49] Another said, Thou art mad. How couldst thou be passing the night in Cairo, and be sleeping in the morning at the city of Damascus?--He said to them, By Allah, O good people, I will tell you no falsehood: I was last night in the land of Egypt, and the day before I was at El-Baṣrah. One of them said, This is a wonderful thing! Another said, This youth is mad. And they clapped their hands at him, and, conversing together, said, Alas, for his youth! By Allah, there is no denying his madness!--They then said to him, Return to thy reason. But he replied, I was yesterday a bridegroom in the land of Egypt.--Probably thou hast dreamt, said they, and hast seen this of which thou speakest in thy sleep. And Ḥasan was confounded, and said, By Allah, this was not a dream: and where is the humpbacked groom who was sitting with us, and the purse of gold that I had? And where are my clothes and my drawers?--He then rose, and entered the city, and proceeded through its great thoroughfare-streets and market-streets; and the people crowded round him and paraded him: so he entered the shop of a cook. Now this cook was a robber,[IV_50] whom God had caused to repent of his unlawful actions, and he had opened a cook's shop; and all the people of Damascus feared him on account of his boldness; therefore, when they saw that the youth had entered this shop, they left him, being afraid.