In the short story, The Appointment in Samarra a foolish servant has an unexpected meetingwith death. In this story there was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the market. When the servant came back he was quite frightened because he ran into death. The servant asked the merchant if he could lend him the horse so he could ride away from his fate and go to Samarra. The merchant obliged and lent him his horse. Later the merchant saw death and asked why he frightened his servant earlier. Death replied by saying how he was shocked that he saw him today, when he planned to see him later.