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Then I journeyed through many regions and saw many a city

intending for Baghdad, that I might seek audience, in the House

of Peace,[FN#255] with the Commander of the Faithful and tell him

all that had befallen me. I arrived here this very night and

found my brother in Allah, this first Kalandar, standing about as

one perplexed; so I saluted him with "Peace be upon thee," and

entered into discourse with him. Presently up came our brother,

this third Kalandar, and said to us, "Peace be with you! I am a

stranger;" whereto we replied, "And we too be strangers, who have

come hither this blessed night." So we all three walked on

together, none of us knowing the other's history, till Destiny

drave us to this door and we came in to you. Such then is my

story and my reason for shaving my beard and mustachios, and this

is what caused the loss of my eye.