"How did he get off?" asks the Sultan.
"That's for your majesty to find out," answers Sheherazade archly. "Maybe he got off, and maybe he didn't. That's the problem."
"Off with her head!" says the Sultan.
When sore beset by novelists who, under the guise of fiction, attempt to saddle him with "the weary weight of all this unintelligible world," the Gentle Reader takes refuge with one who has never deceived him.
"What shall it be?" says Sir Walter.
"As you please, Sir Walter."
"No! As you please, Gentle Reader. If you have nothing else in mind, how would this do for a start?—
| 'Waken! Lords and Ladies gay! |
| On the mountain dawns the day.' |
It's a fine morning, and it's a gallant company! Let's go with them!"