The Six Hundred and Forty-fifth Night,
Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that quoth Manjab to the Caliph, "O Prince of True Believers, when I beheld the eyes of the Badawi woman under her Burka' which were like those of a gazelle they tempted my passions herto and I forgot my oath and its penalty and the Kazi and witnesses. Then she approached me and said, 'Allah give thee long life, O Chief of the Arabs;' and said I, 'To thee too, O most seemly of semblance!' Cried she, 'O comely of countenance, say me, hast thou a necklace fine enough for the like of me;' whereto I rejoined, 'Yes.' Then I arose and brought out one to her, but she seeing it said, 'Hast thou naught better than this?' So I displayed to her, O Commander of the Faithful, all the necklaces I had by me in the shop but, none of them pleasing her, I said, 'In all the stores there is naught finer than these.' Then, O Prince of True Believers, she brought out to me from off her neck a carcanet and said, 'I want one such;' and, as I looked upon it, I knew that there was nothing like it in my store, and that all I had by me of collars and jewels and other goods were not worth a single grain of that carcanet. So I said to her, 'O Winsome of Eyes, this is a thing whereto none of this time can avail save it be with the Commander of the Faithful or with his Wazir Ja'afar bin Yahyá the Barmaki.' Quoth she, 'Wilt thou buy it of me?' and quoth I, 'I have no power to its price,' when she exclaimed, 'I require no payment for this necklace, and I want from thee nothing save a kiss upon thy cheek.' Then said I, 'O Lady of loveliness, bussing without treading I trow is like a bowyer sans a bow,' and she replied, 'Whoso kisseth surely treadeth.' Then, O Prince of True Believers, she sprang from off her dromedary and seated herself beside me within my store, so I arose with her and went into the inner room, she following me (albeit I expected not this from her), and when we were safely inside she clasped me to her bosom and encountered me with her breasts never withal withdrawing her veil from her face. Hereat I lost all power over my senses and when I felt her strain me to her bosom I also strained her to mine, and fulfilled of her my desire after the fairest fashion. And when this was done she sprang to her feet even as springeth the lion from his lair, and flying to the door of the shop swiftlier than a bird and leaving the necklace with me, she mounted her dromedary and went her ways. I imagined, O Prince of True Believers, that she would never return to me at all; so my heart rejoiced in the necklace which she had left and I was of that fancy and opinion anent the matter and manner of her going, when suddenly my pages brought me the she-mule, and said to me, 'O our lord, rise up and fare to the house, for that our lady hath required thee at this very hour and she hath caused dinner to be served and sore we fear lest it wax cold.' Therefore, O Commander of the Faithful, I found it impossible to bathe[140] by reason of the pages which were standing with the mule at the door of my shop; so I mounted and rode home. I entered my house according to my usual habit when my wife met me and said to me 'O my dearling, my heart hath been occupied with thee this day, for thou has tarried away from me so long a time and contrary to thy custom is delaying on such a day as this.' Said I, 'This morning the Bazar was crowded exceedingly and all the merchants were sitting in their shops, nor was it possible for me to rise from my store whilst the market was so warm.' Quoth she, 'O my dearling and coolth of mine eyes, I was at this moment sitting and reading in the Sublime Volume when there befel me a doubt concerning a word in the chapter 'Yá Sín'[141] and I desire that thou certify it to me that I may learn it by heart from thee.' Quoth I, 'O lady of loveliness, I am unable to touch The Book much less may I read the Koran;' and quoth she, 'What is the cause of that?' Replied I, 'I was sleeping at the side of my shop when I had a polluting dream;' and she rejoined, 'An this thy speech be sooth-fast thy bag-trowsers must be fouled, so draw them off that I may see to their washing.' I retorted, 'Indeed my trowsers are not bewrayed because I doffed them before lying down to sleep.' Now when she heard these my words, O Commander of the Faithful, she said to a slave of my slaves whose name was Rayhán, 'O man, go and open the shop and bring the kerchief that is therein.'[142] Then said I, 'O lady of lovelings, I presented it in alms-gift to an old woman who was naked of head and her condition pained me and her poverty, so I largessed it to her.' Rejoined she, 'Say me, was the old woman she who was mounted on the dromedary, the owner of the valuable necklace which she sold to thee for a kiss when thou saidst to her, 'O Winsome of Eyes, bussing without treading I trow, is as a bowyer sans bow.' Now when her words were ended, O Commander of the Faithful, she turned to her women and cried to them, 'Bring hither this moment Sa'ídíyah, the kitchen-wench,' and when she came between her hands behold, she was a slave-girl, a negress, and she was the same in species and substance who came to me under the form of a Badawi woman with a face-veil of brocade covering her features. Hereupon my wife drew the Burka' from before the woman's face and caused her doff her dress, and when she was stripped she was black as a bit of charcoal. Now as soon as I saw this, O Viceregent of Allah, my wits were bewildered and I considered my affair and I knew not what to do, thinking of the conditions whereto I had consented."—And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was