' 'It is my counsel,'
rejoined the Vizier, 'that we hire thee a shop in the stuff-
bazaar, where thou mayst sit to sell and buy. Every one, great
and small, hath need of silken and other stuffs; so if thou be
patient and abide in thy shop, thine affairs will prosper, if
it please God, especially as thou art comely of aspect. Moreover,
I would have thee make Aziz thy factor and set him within the
shop, to hand thee the pieces of stuffs and silks.' When Taj el
Mulouk heard this, he said, 'This is a good counsel.' So he took
out a handsome suit of merchant's clothes, and putting it on, set
out for the bazaar, followed by his servants, to one of whom he
had given a thousand dinars, wherewith to fit up the shop. When
they came to the stuff-market and the merchants saw Taj el
Mulouk's beauty and grace, they were confounded and some said,
'Sure Rizwan hath opened the gates of Paradise and left them
unguarded, so that this passing lovely youth hath come out.' And
others, 'Belike this is one of the angels.' They asked for the
shop of the overseer of the market, and the merchants directed
them to it. So they repaired thither and saluted him, and he and
those who were with him rose to them and seated them and made
much of them because of the Vizier, whom they saw to be a man of
age and reverend aspect; and seeing Aziz and Taj el Mulouk in his
company, they said to one another, 'Doubtless this old man is
the father of these two youths.
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