Verily, we thought well of him; but he
is like the leek, grayheaded and green at the heart.' And Sheikh
Mohammed Semsem before mentioned, the Deputy of the market, said,
'O merchants, never will we accept the like of him for our
chief.' Now it was the custom, when the Provost came from his
house and sat down in his shop of a morning, for the Deputy of
the market and the rest of the merchants to go in a body to his
ship and recite to him the opening chapter of the Koran, after
which they wished him good morrow and went away, each to his
shop. Shemseddin seated himself in his shop as usual, but the
merchants come not to him as of wont; so he called the Deputy and
said to him, 'Why come not the merchants together as usual?' 'I
know not how to tell thee,' answered Mohammed Semsem; 'for they
have agreed to depose thee from the headship of the market and to
recite the first chapter to thee no more.' 'And why so?' asked
Shemseddin. 'What boy is this that sits beside thee,' asked the
Deputy, 'and thou a man of years and chief of the merchants? Is
he a slave or akin to thy wife? Verily, I think thou lovest him
and inclinest [unlawfully] to the boy.' With this, the Provost
cried out at him, saying, 'God confound thee, hold thy peace!
This is my son.
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