morning, noon
`` Ah , thou magnificent stream ! '' exclaimed Jussuf , who had given himself to reflection after he had viewed it for some time ; `` what a pity that thou must fall into the sea so soon below the kingly town of Balsora ! There thou art , wasted and forgotten ; the navigator on the great sea never thinks that the streams of his native country flow mingled with the waves through which the keel of his ship cuts . Now , then , '' continued he , after a short reflection , `` it is all the better for me : now I am still active in business ; my ships set out at morning , noon , and evening ; my camels march to India through the deserts of Arabia , and the plains of Tartary and Persia ; thousands and thousands of men call me still the rich and great merchant Jussuf , and praise me as the most lucky of mortals ; yet a little while , and my existence will be lost as thine , in the sea of eternity . '' Among such earnest considerations and soliloquies , he had hardly observed that a large variegated butterfly , hovering over the neighbouring flower-bed , moved slowly to and fro , just as if it were undecided in choosing on which flower it would alight . He was very attentive to its broad wings , which glittered with the most splendid colours , while the insect , brilliantly variegated , settled on a scarlet poppy , as though it wished to eclipse the magnificence of the flower with the variety of its different hues . `` What splendid colours !