The speaker is

There was a in Baghdad who sent his to to buy and in a little while the servant came back, white and , and said, ", just now when I was in the I was by a woman in the and when I I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a , now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and my . I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me."

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant it, and he his in its and as fast as the horse could he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said," Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?" "That was not a threatening gesture," I said, "it was only a of . I was to see him in Baghdad, I had an with him tonight in Samarra."