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Quoth the Khalif, 'Dost thou laugh in derision of me or art thou mad? 'Neither, by Allah, O Commander of the Faithful, answered Mesrour, 'by thy kinship to the Prince of Apostles, I did it not of my free-will; but I went out yesterday to walk and coming to the bank of the Tigris, saw there the folk collected about a man named Ibn el Caribi, who was making them laugh; and but now I recalled what he said, and laughter got the better of me; and I crave pardon of thee, O Commander of the Faithful! 'Bring him to me forthright, said the Khalif.
When Ibn el Caribi came into the Khalif's presence, he saluted him, as became his rank, and stood before him; whereupon said Er Reshid to him, 'If thou do not make me laugh, I will give thee three blows with this bag. Quoth Ibn el Caribi in himself, 'Three strokes with that bag were a small matter, seeing that beating with whips irketh me not; for he thought the bag was empty.
Then he clapped into a discourse, such as would make a stone laugh, and gave vent to all manner of drolleries; but the Khalif laughed not neither smiled, whereat Ibn el Caribi marvelled and was chagrined and affrighted. Then said the Khalif, 'Now hast thou earned the beating, and gave him a blow with the bag, in which were four pebbles, each two pounds in weight.
Humboldt is of the same opinion, and suggests that the name Carib may be derived from Calina or Caripuna through transformation of the letters l and p into r and b, forming Caribi or Galibi.
The caribi, which in Europe perform the important duty of scavengers, and live on the ground, are in South America nearly always found on trees. Some are of enormous size. The Hercules beetle, which lives on the mamma Americana, attains a length of five and sometimes six inches.
'But on condition, added Mesrour, 'that, if he give thee aught, thou shalt have a fourth and the rest shall be mine. 'Nay, replied the other, 'thou shalt have half and I half. 'Not so, insisted Mesrour; 'I will have three- quarters. 'Thou shalt have two-thirds, then, rejoined Ibn el Caribi; 'and I the other third. To this Mesrour agreed, after much haggling, and they returned to the palace together.
So Mesrour repaired in all haste to Ibn el Caribi and said to him, 'The Commander of the Faithful calls for thee. 'I hear and obey, answered the droll.
Quoth Ibn el Caribi, 'Mesrour made it a condition with me that, whatsoever might come to me of the bounties of the Commander of the Faithful, one-third thereof should be mine and the rest his; nor did he agree to leave me so much as one-third save after much haggling.
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