The Six Hundred and Sixty-seventh 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 the Architects set up in that palace-garden a water-wheel whose well was revetted with alabaster and whose wood-work and wheel were of chaunders-wood, whilst its pitchers were of fine porcelain and its cordage[191] was of raw silk. And when they were free of this work they edified amongst the scented shrubs and blossoms a towering dome based upon four-square walls of variegated marbles and alabasters studded with carbuncles[192] and its ceiling was supported upon columns of the finest stone with joinery of lign-aloes and sandal, and they dubbed its cupola with jewels and precious stones and arabesque'd[193] it with gold and silver. Then they made therein four saloons more, each fronting other, and at the head of one and all was a latticed window impending over the bloomy shrubs and fragrant herbs; the colonnettes of those casements were silvern whilst the shutters were of sandal-wood plated and studded with precious metals; and over the lintels thereof was an ornamental frieze of gold inscribed with lines of verse which shall be described in its due place. And they inlaid that frieze with rubies and jacinths until it made the cupola resemble the domes of Paradise. Moreover they trained the flowering shrubs and the perfumed herbs to overrun with their tendrils the casements in the drum of the dome, and when they had completed the work and had embellished it with all adornments they pierced for it an entrance and ranged around it three ramparts which, built up with large stones, were in breadth seven cubits. Then they edified for the Palace an impregnable gateway of Chinese steel whereunto led flights of alabastrine steps which were continued to the highmost parts, and lastly they derived the river Al-Kawa'ib till it surrounded the edifice on every side and encircled it as signet-ring girdeth finger or wristlet wrist. Now when the Architects and Master-masons had made an end of building the Palace and its domes and had finished laying out and planting the parterres, they went in to King Al-Mihrjan and kissing ground between his hands informed him thereof; and he, receiving this report, at once took his daughter, Al-Hayfa, and mounting horse, he and the Lords of his land rode forth till they reached the river Al-Kawa'ib which ran at three days' distance from his capital. When he arrived there and looked upon the Palace and its elevation in fortalice-form he was pleased therewith and so were all of his suite and retinue; whereupon he went up to it and beholding the ordinance and the ornamentation and the cupolas and the gardens and the edification and embellishment of the whole, he sent for the Architects and Master-masons and the artificers whom he thanked for their work, and he bestowed upon them robes of honour and gifted and largessed them and assigned to them rations and pay and allowances. So they kissed ground before him and went their ways. Then King Al-Mihrjan and his host withdrew within the Palace, and he bade serve up the trays of viands and sumptuous food for a banquet, after which he and his abode three days in eating and drinking and diversion and disport; and he gave robes of honour to his Wazirs and Emirs and the Grandees of his kingdom, and in fine issued orders for their departure. When they went forth from him, he commanded to summon Al-Hayfa and her women with all their belongings; and she, having made act of presence and having ascended to the Palace and considered it with its beauty and artifice and ornamentation, was pleased and rejoiced therein. The father abode with her three days, and then farewelling her returned to his capital; and she on his departure bade her slave-girls distribute the couches about the saloons placing in each one a seat of ebony plated with glittering gold, whose legs were of elephant's ivory, and over one and all they reared canopies of silk and brocade adorned with jewels and precious metals and bespread them with mattresses and cushions and pillows, and over the floor of the palaces they laid down carpets whereupon was orfrayed this couplet,
"O Friend hereon seated be blythe and gay * Unless hereto bound
and debarred of way."[194]
Then they set upon them settees for seats whereupon were inscribed these couplets,
"O Seat, be thy beauty increased evermore; * Fair fall thee with
happiness choice and meet;
An I fail in life through my slip and sin, * To-morrow in Heav'n
I'll give thee seat."
Then[195] the attendants decorated the whole Palace until it became like unto one of the Mansions of Heaven, and when the women had done her bidding, Al-Hayfa was much pleased, so she took one of the slave-girls by the hand and walked with the rest of them around the Palace considering its artifice and its embellishment, especially the paintings which covered the walls; and they rejoiced thereat, marvelling at the cunning decorations and they were grateful to the Architects who had builded and presented all these representations. And when Al-Hayfa reached the terrace- roof of the Palace she descended by its long flight of steps which led to the river-side, and bidding the door be thrown open she gazed upon the water which encircled it like ring around finger or armlet round arm, and admired its breadth and its swiftness of streaming; and she magnified the work and admired the gateway of steel for its strength and power of defence and sued for pardon of Almighty Allah.[196]—And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, 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 Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next night and that was