’ The caliph smiled and then, lifting a corner of the curtain, he leaned out and told him: ‘Come here and take one of these bits of paper.’ Khalifa said: ‘You were a fisherman, and today I see that you have turned into an astrologer, but the jack-of- all-trades is a very poor man.’ ‘Don’t talk so much,’ said Ja‘far, ‘but do what the Commander of the Faithful tells you and take one of these pieces of paper.’ So Khalifa advanced and stretched out his hand, saying: ‘This flute player will never be my apprentice and come out fishing with again.’ He took a piece of paper and handed it to the caliph, saying: ‘Flute player, what does it say my fortune is going to be? Don’t keep it secret.’ Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say. Then, when it was the eight hundred and forty-second night, SHE CONTINUED: I have heard, O fortunate king, that Khalifa the fisherman took one of the bits of paper and passed it to the caliph. ‘Flute player,’ he said, ‘what does it say my fortune is going to be? Don’t keep it secret.’ The caliph took it and passed it to Ja‘far, telling him to read out what was on it. When Ja‘far looked at it, he exclaimed: ‘There is no might and no power except with God, the Exalted, the Omnipotent.’ ‘What have you seen in it, Ja‘far?’ the caliph asked. ‘Good news, I hope.’ But Ja‘far told him that, according to the paper, Khalifa was to receive a hundred strokes of the cane.