[1] Written in Latin at the beginning of the 12th century, it is a collection of 33 fables and tales and is the oldest European book of its kind.
[2] Works included in the book are: A Berber who is dying calls his son to him and asks him how many friends he thinks he has gained in his lifetime.
The other merchant, who is hosting him, calls in the most experienced doctors in Egypt who diagnose him with lovesickness.
Upon request, his host brings him all the women of his household, starting with the chamber maids and singing girls and then his daughters, to see if they are the object of his sickness.
When none of these are of interest to the sick merchant, his host brings him a girl of noble birth who he is hoping to marry someday.
When the sick merchant sees this girl he tells his host that 'she is the one who means life and death to me'.
Upon hearing this the host gives the girl to the sick merchant who recovers and after finishing his business goes back to Marrakech.
He travels to Marrakech to see his friend, however he arrives at an inconvenient time in the middle of the night.
The following morning he brought to the gallows and is about to be hanged when the other merchant sees him and confesses to the crime to save his friends life.
The real murderer sees this and decides to confess to the crime so that he can escape a worse judgement from God later on.
The third poet who appears before the king has a noble mother but a lesser father and is not of great abilities.
The poet is ashamed to mention his father and so speaks to the king of his uncle who possesses great skill and wit.
The king tells his courtiers he is laughing because the situation reminds him of a story he read in a book of fables.
The mule, unwilling to admit that his father is a donkey says, 'my mother's brother is a noble steed'.
The fox then tells the man that he cannot change the natural order of things using an analogy of a weight that falls when its supports are removed.
The moral of the story is that as a result of the hunchbacks struggling he is required to pay five dinars when he could have only paid one.
One of them stops to listen and is urged to continue by his friend who says "Whoever hears the song of the bird and is bewitched thereby, he must surely die".
The teacher remarks that man finds joy in his voice, poetry, and son even if they are not pleasing to him.
The wife is unsure how to handle this request so the mother steps in and distracts the man with a fine linen sheet and the lover sneaks out of the house.
Having no place to hide the lover, the mother-in-law gives him a sword and tells him to stand by the door.
When the husband asks the meaning of this the mother-in-law replies that the man was running from three men who were trying to kill him and that they had given him refuge.