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Then he sent for Enis el Jelis and bestowed plentiful favours upon them both, assigning them a palace at Baghdad and regular allowances. Moreover, he made Noureddin one of his boon-companions, and the latter abode with him in the enjoyment of the most delectable life, till Death overtook him.
Then he called his slave-girl and said to her, 'O Enis el Jelis, hast thou seen what has befallen me? And he related to her what the steward had told him.
And he said, 'Know, O steward, it is my desire that so long as there remains in thy hands enough for my morning meal, thou trouble me not with taking care for my evening meal. Therewith the steward went away and Noureddin continued his extravagant way of living; and if any of his boon-companions chanced to say to him, 'This thing is handsome, he would answer, 'It is thine as a gift; or if another said, 'O my lord, such and such a house is handsome, he would say, 'Take it: it is thine. In this manner he continued to live for a whole year, giving his friends a banquet in the morning and another in the evening, till one day as they were sitting together, the damsel Enis el Jelis repeated the following verses: Thou madest fair thy thought of Fate, when that the days were fair, And fearedst not the unknown ills that they to thee might bring: The nights were fair and calm to thee; thou wert deceived by them, For in the peace of night is born full many a troublous thing.
Then he continued, 'O my son, I have no charge to lay on thee, except that thou fear God and look to the issue of thine actions and cherish the damsel Enis el Jelis. 'O my father, said Noureddin, 'who is like unto thee?
When I heard thee speak thus, I held my peace and cared not to say aught to thee. 'O Enis el Jelis, said Noureddin, 'thou knowest that I have not expended my substance but on my friends, who have beggared me, and I think they will not leave me without help. 'By Allah, replied she, 'they will not profit thee in aught. Said he, 'I will rise at once and go to them and knock at their doors: maybe I shall get of them somewhat with which I may trade and leave pleasure and merry-making. So he rose and repaired to a certain street, where all his ten comrades lived.
Presently, as Enis el Jelis sat resting after the bath, in came the Vizier's son, whose name was Noureddin Ali, and asked after his mother and her women, to which the two little slaves replied that they had gone to the bath.
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