If bad, draw up thy claws and hie away!”
The slave-girl having chanted the time-honoured formula, turned to resume her attitude of patient waiting. She grinned to find herself the object of all eyes.
“I shamed him,” she remarked, with a wide flash of teeth, as she sat down once more.
“Thou knowest the history—not so, O my flower?” said Na’imah.
“Umm ed-Dahak has related it a thousand times—the Lord have mercy on her!” Barakah made answer in a tone of fond remembrance.
“O light of my eyes, surely every woman here in Egypt knows it!” giggled Yûsuf’s youngest sister. “They say it has been handed down among us from the days of our lord Noah, when we sent up the petition.”
“That every girl might be allowed four husbands?” asked Gulbeyzah.
“More! more!—or so old Umm ed-Dahak used to tell me—as many as she could endure, my sweet!” laughed Barakah.
“May Allah destroy the house of that most wicked crow, who has kept us waiting all these thousands of long years till now!” groaned Na’imah.
“How long! How long, O Lord!” sighed out Gulbeyzah in a comic ecstasy.