A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. Volume 7 (of 17)

Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirtieth Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Care-taker took the two thousand ducats from the Princess and returned to his house, all his family rejoiced in him and blessed him who had been the prime cause of this business. Thus it fared with these; but as regards the old woman, she said to the Princess, “O my lady, this is indeed become a fine place! Never saw I a purer white than its plastering nor properer than its painting! I wonder if he have also repaired it within: else hath he made the outside white and left the inside black. Come, let us enter and inspect.” So they went in, the nurse preceding, and found the interior painted and gilded in the goodliest way. The Princess looked right and left, till she came to the upper end of the estrade, when she fixed her eyes upon the wall and gazed long and earnestly thereat; whereupon the old woman knew that her glance had lighted on the presentment of her dream and took the two waiting-women away with her, that they might not divert her mind. When the King’s daughter had made an end of examining the painting, she turned to the old woman, wondering and beating hand on hand, and said to her, “O my nurse, come, see a wondrous thing which were it graven with needle-gravers on the eye corners would be a warner to whoso will be warned.” She replied, “And what is that, O my lady?”; when the Princess rejoined, “Go, look at the upper end of the estrade, and tell me what thou seest there.” So she went up and considered the dream-drawing: then she came down, wondering, and said, “By Allah, O my lady, here is depicted the garden and the fowler and his net and the birds and all thou sawest in thy dream; and verily, nothing but urgent need withheld the male pigeon from returning to free his mate after he had fled her, for I see him in the talons of a bird of raven which hath slaughtered him and is drinking his blood and rending his flesh and eating it; and this, O my lady, caused his tarrying to return and rescue her from the net. But, O my mistress, the wonder is how thy dream came to be thus depicted, for, wert thou minded to set it forth in painture, thou hadst not availed to portray it. By Allah, this is a marvel which should be recorded in histories! Surely, O my lady, the angels appointed to attend upon the sons of Adam, knew that the cock-pigeon was wronged of us, because we blamed him for deserting his mate; so they embraced his cause and made manifest his excuse; and now for the first time we see him in the hawk’s pounces a dead bird.” Quoth the Princess, “O my nurse, verily, Fate and Fortune had course against this bird, and we did him wrong.” Quoth the nurse, “O my mistress, foes shall meet before Allah the Most High: but, O my lady, verily, the truth hath been made manifest and the male pigeon’s excuse certified to us; for had the hawk not seized him and drunk his blood and rent his flesh he had not held aloof from his mate, but had returned to her, and set her free from the net; but against death there is no recourse, nor, O my lady, is there aught in the world more tenderly solicitous than the male for the female, among all creatures which Almighty Allah hath created. And especially ’tis thus with man; for he starveth himself to feed his wife, strippeth himself to clothe her, angereth his family to please her and disobeyeth and denieth his parents to endow her. She knoweth his secrets and concealeth them and she cannot endure from him a single hour.286 An he be absent from her one night, her eyes sleep not, nor is there a dearer to her than he: she loveth him more than her parents and they lie down to sleep in each other’s arms, with his hand under her neck and her hand under his neck, even as saith the poet:—

I made my wrist her pillow and I lay with her in litter;And I said to Night “Be long!” while the full moon showed glitter:Ah me, it was a night, Allah never made its like;Whose first was sweetest sweet and whose last was bitt’rest bitter!287

Then he kisseth her and she kisseth him; and I have heard of a certain King that, when his wife fell sick and died, he buried himself alive with her, submitting himself to death, for the love of her and the strait companionship which was between them. Moreover, a certain King sickened and died, and when they were about to bury him, his wife said to her people: Let me bury myself alive with him: else will I slay myself and my blood shall be on your heads. So, when they saw she would not be turned from this thing, they left her, and she cast herself into the grave with her dead husband, of the greatness of her love and tenderness for him.” And the old woman ceased not to ply the Princess with anecdotes of conjugal love between men and women, till there ceased that which was in her heart of hatred for the sex masculine; and when she felt that she had succeeded in renewing in her the natural inclination of woman to man, she said to her, “’Tis time to go and walk in the garden.” So they fared forth from the pavilion and paced among the trees. Presently the Prince chanced to turn and his eyes fell on Hayat al-Nufus; and when he saw the symmetry of her shape and the rosiclearness of her cheeks and the blackness of her eyes and her exceeding grace and her passing loveliness and her excelling beauty and her prevailing elegance and her abounding perfection, his reason was confounded and he could not take his eyes off her. Passion annihilated his right judgment and love overpassed all limits in him; his vitals were occupied with her service and his heart was aflame with the fire of repine, so that he swooned away and fell to the ground. When he came to himself, she had passed from his sight and was hidden from him among the trees;–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-first Night,

She resumed, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when Prince Ardashir, who lay hid in the garden, saw the Princess and her nurse walking amongst the trees, he swooned away for very love-longing. When he came to himself Hayat al-Nufus had passed from his sight and was hidden from him among the trees; so he sighed from his heart-core and improvised these couplets:—

Whenas mine eyes behold her loveliness,My heart is torn with love’s own ecstasy.I wake o’erthrown, cast-down on face of earthNor can the Princess288 my sore torment see.She turned and ravished this sad Love-thrall’d sprite;Mercy, by Allah, ruth; nay, sympathy!O Lord, afford me union, deign Thou sootheMy soul, ere grave-niche house this corse of me;I’ll kiss her ten times ten times, and times tenFor lover’s wasted cheek the kisses be!

The old woman ceased not to lead the Princess a-pleasuring about the garden, till they reached the place where the Prince lay ambushed, when, behold she said, “O Thou whose bounties are hidden, vouchsafe us assurance from that we fear!” The King’s son hearing the signal, left his lurking-place and, surprised by the summons, walked among the trees, swaying to and fro with a proud and graceful gait and a shape that shamed the branches. His brow was crowned with pearly drops and his cheeks red as the afterglow, extolled be Allah the Almighty in that He hath created! When the King’s daughter caught sight of him, she gazed a long while on him and noticed his beauty and grace and loveliness and his eyes that wantoned like the gazelle’s, and his shape that outvied the branches of the myrobalan; wherefore her wits were confounded and her soul captivated and her heart transfixed with the arrows of his glaces. Then she said to the old woman, “O my nurse, whence came yonder handsome youth?”; and the nurse asked, “Where is he, O my lady?” “There he is,” answered Hayat al-Nufus; “near hand, among the trees.” The old woman turned right and left, as if she knew not of his presence, and cried, “And pray, who can have taught this youth the way into this garden?” Quoth Hayat al-Nufus, “Who shall give us news of the young man? Glory be to Him who created men! But say me, dost thou know him, O my nurse?” Quoth the old woman, “O my lady, he is the young merchant who wrote to thee by me.” The Princess (and indeed she was drowned in the sea of her desire and the fire of her passion and love-longing) broke out, “O my nurse, how goodly is this youth! Indeed he is fair of favour. Methinks, there is not on the face of earth a goodlier than he!” Now when the old woman was assured that the love of him had gotten possession of the Princess, she said to her, “Did I not tell thee, O my lady, that he was a comely youth with a beaming favour?” Replied Hayat al-Nufus, “O my nurse, King’s daughters know not the ways of the world nor the manners of those that be therein, for that they company with none, neither give they nor take they. O my nurse, how shall I do to bring about a meeting and present myself to him, and what shall I say to him and what will he say to me?” Said the old woman, “What device is left me? Indeed, we were confounded in this matter by thy behaviour”; and the Princess said, “O my nurse, know thou that if any ever died of passion, I shall do so, and behold, I look for nothing but death on the spot by reason of the fire of my love-longing.” When the old woman heard her words and saw the transport of her desire for him, she answered, “O my lady, now as for his coming to thee, there is no way thereto; and indeed thou art excused from going to him, because of thy tender age; but rise with me and follow me. I will accost him: so shalt thou not be put to shame, and in the twinkling of an eye affection shall ensue between you.” The King’s daughter cried, “Go thou before me, for the decree of Allah may not be rejected.” Accordingly they went up to the place where Ardashir sat, as he were the full moon at its fullest, and the old woman said to him, “See O youth, who is present before thee! ’Tis the daughter of our King of the age, Hayat al-Nufus: bethink thee of her rank and appreciate the honour she doth thee in coming to thee and rise out of respect for her and stand before her.” The Prince sprang to his feet in an instant and his eyes met her eyes, whereupon they both became as they were drunken without wine. Then the love of him and desire redoubled upon the Princess and she opened her arms and he his, and they embraced; but love-longing and passion overcame them and they swooned away and fell to the ground and lay a long while without sense. The old woman, fearing scandalous exposure, carried them both into the pavilion, and, sitting down at the door, said to the two waiting-women, “Seize the occasion to take your pleasure in the garden, for the Princess sleepeth.” So they returned to their diversion. Presently the lovers revived from their swoon and found themselves in the pavilion, whereat quoth the Prince, “Allah upon thee, O Princess of fair ones, is this vision or sleep-illusion?” Then the twain embraced and intoxicated themselves without wine, complaining each to other of the anguish of passion; and the Prince improvised these couplets:—

Sun riseth sheen from her brilliant brow,And her cheek shows the rosiest afterglow:And when both appear to the looker-on,The skyline star ne’er for shame will show:An the leven flash from those smiling lips,Morn breaks and the rays dusk and gloom o’erthrow.And when with her graceful shape she sways,Droops leafiest Bán-tree289 for envy low:Me her sight suffices; naught crave I more:Lord of Men and Morn, be her guard from foe!The full moon borrows a part of her charms;The sun would rival but fails his lowe.Whence could Sol aspire to that bending grace?Whence should Luna see such wit and such mind-gifts know?Who shall blame me for being all love to her,’Twixt accord and discord aye doomed to woe:’Tis she won my heart with those forms that bendWhat shall lover’s heart from such charms defend?

——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the Prince had made an end of his verses, the Princess strained him to her bosom and kissed him on the mouth and between the eyes; whereupon his soul returned to him and he fell to complaining to her of that he had endured for stress of love and tyranny of longing and excess of transport and distraction and all he had suffered for the hardness of her heart. Hearing those words she kissed his hands and feet and bared her head,290 whereupon the gloom gathered and the full moons dawned therein. Then said she to him, “O my beloved and term of all my wishes, would the day of estrangement had never been and Allah grant it may never return between us!” And they embraced and wept together, whilst she recited these couplets:—

O who shamest the Moon and the sunny glow:Thou whose slaught’ring tyranny lays me low;With the sword of a look thou hast shorn my heart,How escape thy sword-glance fatal of blow?Thus eke are thine eyebrows a bow that shotMy bosom with shafts of fiercest lowe:From thy cheeks’ rich crop cometh Paradise;How, then, shall my heart the rich crop forego?Thy graceful shape is a blooming branch,And shall pluck the fruits who shall bear that bough.Perforce thou drawest me, robst my sleep;In thy love I strip me and shameless show:291Allah lend thee the rays of most righteous light,Draw the farthest near and a tryst bestow:Then have ruth on the vitals thy love hath seared,And the heart that flies to thy side the mo’e!

And when she ended her recitation, passion overcame her and she was distraught for love and wept copious tears, rain-like streaming down. This burnt the Prince’s heart and he in turn became troubled and distracted for love of her. So he drew nearer to her and kissed her hands and wept with sore weeping and they ceased not from lover-reproaches and converse and versifying, until the call to mid-afternoon prayer (nor was there aught between them other than this), when they bethought them of parting and she said to him, “O light of mine eyes and core of my heart, the time of severance has come between us twain: when shall we meet again?” “By Allah,” replied he (and indeed her words shot him as with shafts), “to mention of parting I am never fain!” Then she went forth of the pavilion, and he turned and saw her sighing sighs would melt the rock and weeping shower-like tears; whereupon he for love was sunken in the sea of desolation and improvised these couplets:—

O my heart’s desire! grows my miseryFrom the stress of love, and what cure for me?By thy face, like dawn when it lights the dark,And thy hair whose hue beareth night-tide’s blee,And thy form like the branch which in grace inclinesTo Zephyr’s292 breath blowing fain and free,By the glance of thine eyes like the fawn’s soft gaze,When she views pursuer of high degree,And thy waist down borne by the weight of hips,These so heavy and that lacking gravity,By the wine of thy lip-dew, the sweetest of drink,Fresh water and musk in its purity,O gazelle of the tribe, ease my soul of grief,And grant me thy phantom in sleep to see!

Now when she heard his verses in praise of her, she turned back to him and embracing him, with a heart on fire for the anguish of severance, fire which naught save kisses and embraces might quench, cried, “Sooth the byword saith, Patience is for a lover and not the lack thereof. There is no help for it but I contrive a means for our reunion.” Then she farewelled him and fared forth, knowing not where she set her feet, for stress of her love; nor did she stay her steps till she found herself in her own chamber. When she was gone, passion and love-longing redoubled upon the young Prince and the delight of sleep was forbidden him, and the Princess in her turn tasted not food and her patience failed and she sickened for desire. As soon as dawned the day, she sent for the nurse, who came and found her condition changed and she cried, “Question me not of my case; for all I suffer is due to thy handiwork. Where is the beloved of my heart?” “O my lady, when did he leave thee? Hath he been absent from thee more than this night?” “Can I endure absence from him an hour? Come, find some means to bring us together speedily, for my soul is like to flee my body.” “O my lady, have patience till I contrive thee some subtle device, whereof none shall be ware.” “By the Great God, except thou bring him to me this very day, I will tell the King that thou hast corrupted me, and he will cut off thy head!” “I conjure thee, by Allah, have patience with me, for this is a dangerous matter!” And the nurse humbled herself to her, till she granted her three days’ delay, saying, “O my nurse, the three days will be three years to me; and if the fourth day pass and thou bring him not, I will go about to slay thee.” So the old woman left her and returned to her lodging, where she abode till the morning of the fourth day, when she summoned the tirewomen of the town and sought of them fine dyes and rouge for the painting of a virgin girl and adorning; and they brought her cosmetics of the best. Then she sent for the Prince and, opening her chest, brought out a bundle containing a suit of woman’s apparel, worth five thousand dinars, and a head-kerchief fringed with all manner gems. Then said she to him, “O my son, hast thou a mind to foregather with Hayat al-Nufus?”; and he replied, “Yes.” So she took a pair of tweezers and pulled out the hairs of his face and pencilled his eyes with Kohl.293 Then she stripped him and painted him with Henna294 from his nails to his shoulders and from his insteps to his thighs and tattooed295 him about the body, till he was like red roses upon alabaster slabs. After a little, she washed him and dried him and bringing out a shift and a pair of petticoat-trousers made him put them on. Then she clad him in the royal suit aforesaid and, binding the kerchief about his head, veiled him and taught him how to walk, saying, “Advance thy left and draw back thy right.” He did her bidding and forewent her, as he were a Houri faring abroad from Paradise. Then said she to him, “Fortify thy heart, for thou art going to the King’s palace, where there will without fail be guards and eunuchs at the gate; and if thou be startled at them and show doubt or dread, they will suspect thee and examine thee, and we shall both get into grievous trouble and haply lose our lives: wherefore an thou feel thyself unable to this, tell me.” He answered, “In very sooth this thing hath no terrors for me, so be of good cheer and keep thine eyes cool and clear.” Then she went out preceding him till the twain came to the palace-gate, which was full of eunuchs. She turned and looked at him, as much as to say, “Art thou troubled or no?” and finding him all unchanged, went on. The chief eunuch glanced at the nurse and knew her but, seeing a damsel following her, whose charms confounded the reason, he said in his mind, “As for the old woman, she is the nurse; but as for the girl who is with her there is none in our land resembleth her in favour or approacheth her in fairness save the Princess Hayat al-Nufus, who is secluded and never goeth out. Would I knew how she came into the streets and would Heaven I wot whether or no ’twas by leave of the King!” Then he rose to learn somewhat concerning her and well nigh thirty castratos followed him; which when the old woman saw, her reason fled for fear and she said, “Verily, we are Allah’s and to Him we shall return! Without recourse we are dead folk this time.”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-third Night,

She continued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the old nurse saw the head of the eunuchry and his assistants making for her she was in exceeding fear and cried, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great! Verily we are God’s and unto him we shall return; without recourse we be dead folk this time.” When the head eunuch heard her speak thus, fear gat hold upon him, by reason of that which he knew of the Princess’s violence and that her father was ruled by her, and he said to himself, “Belike the King hath commanded the nurse to carry his daughter forth upon some occasion of hers, whereof she would have none know; and if I oppose her, she will be wroth with me and will say:—This eunuch fellow stopped me, that he might pry into my affairs. So she will do her best to kill me, and I have no call to meddle in this matter.” So saying, he turned back, and with him the thirty assistants who drove the people from the door of the palace; whereupon the nurse entered and saluted the eunuchs with her head, whilst all the thirty stood to do her honour and returned her salam. She led in the Prince and he ceased not following her from door to door, and the Protector protected them, so that they passed all the guards, till they came to the seventh door: it was that of the great pavilion, wherein was the King’s throne, and it communicated with the chambers of his women and the saloons of the Harim, as well as with his daughter’s pavilion. So the old woman halted and said, “Here we are, O my son, and glory be to Him who hath brought us thus far in safety! But, O my son, we cannot foregather with the Princess except by night; for night enveileth the fearful.” He replied, “True, but what is to be done?” Quoth she, “Hide thee in this black hole,” showing him behind the door a dark and deep cistern, with a cover thereto. So he entered the cistern, and she went away and left him there till ended day, when she returned and carried him into the palace, till they came to the door of Hayat al-Nufus’s apartment. The old woman knocked and a little maid came out and said, “Who is at the door?” Said the nurse, “’Tis I,” whereupon the maid returned and craved permission of her lady, who said, “Open to her and let her come in with any who may accompany her.” So they entered and the nurse, casting a glance around, perceived that the Princess had made ready the sitting-chamber and ranged the lamps in row and lighted candles of wax in chandeliers of gold and silver and spread the divans and estrades with carpets and cushions. Moreover, she had set on trays of food and fruits and confections and she had perfumed the place with musk and aloes-wood and ambergris. She was seated among the lamps and the tapers and the light of her face outshone the lustre of them all. When she saw the old woman, she said to her, “O nurse, where is the beloved of my heart?”; and the other replied, “O my lady, I cannot find him nor have mine eyes espied him; but I have brought thee his own sister; and here she is.” Cried the Princess, “Art thou Jinn-mad? What need have I of his sister? Say me, an a man’s head irk him, doth he bind up his hand?” The old woman answered, “No, by Allah, O my lady! But look on her, and if she pleases thee, let her be with thee.” Then she uncovered the Prince’s face, whereupon Hayat al-Nufus knew him and running to him, pressed him to her bosom, and he pressed her to his breast. Then they both fell down in a swoon and lay without sense a long while. The old woman sprinkled rose-water upon them till they came to themselves, when she kissed him on the mouth more than a thousand times and improvised these couplets:—

Sought me this heart’s dear love at gloom of night;I rose in honour till he sat forthright,And said, “O aim of mine, O sole desireIn such night-visit hast of guards no fright?”Replied he, “Yes, I fearèd much, but LoveRobbed me of all my wits and reft my sprite.”We clipt with kisses and awhile clung weFor here ’twas safe; nor feared we watchman-wight:Then rose we parting without doubtful deedAnd shook out skirts where none a stain could sight.

——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

Now when it was the Seven Hundred and Thirty-fourth Night,

She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when her lover visited Hayat al-Nufus in her palace, the twain embraced and she improvised some happy couplets beseeming the occasion. And when she had ended her extempore lines she said, “Is it indeed true that I see thee in my abode and that thou art my cup-mate and my familiar?” Then passion grew on her and love was grievous to her, so that her reason well-nigh fled for joy and she improvised these couplets:—

With all my soul I’ll ransom him who came to me in gloomOf night, whilst I had waited long to see his figure loom;And naught aroused me save his weeping voice of tender toneAnd whispered I, “Fair fall thy foot and welcome and well come!”His cheek I kissed a thousand times, and yet a thousand more;Then clipt and clung about his breast enveiled in darkling room.And cried, “Now verily I’ve won the aim of every wishSo praise and prayers to Allah for this grace now best become.”Then slept we even as we would the goodliest of nightsTill morning came to end our night and light up earth with bloom.

As soon as it was day, she made him enter a place in her apartment unknown to any and he abode there till nightfall, when she brought him out and they sat in converse and carouse. Presently he said to her, “I wish to return to my own country and tell my father what hath passed between us, that he may equip his Wazir to demand thee in marriage of thy sire.” She replied, “O my love, I fear, an thou return to thy country and kingdom, thou wilt be distracted from me and forget the love of me; or that thy father will not further thy wishes in this matter and I shall die. Meseems the better rede were that thou abide with me and in my hand-grasp, I looking on thy face, and thou on mine, till I devise some plan, whereby we may escape together some night and flee to thy country; for I have cut off my hopes from my own people and I despair of them.” He rejoined, “I hear and obey;” and they fell again to their carousal and conversing. He tarried with her thus for some time till, one night, the wine was pleasant to them and they lay not down nor did they sleep till break of day. Now it chanced that one of the Kings sent her father a present, and amongst other things, a necklace of union jewels, nine-and-twenty grains, to whose price a King’s treasures might not suffice. Quoth Abd-al-Kadir, “This rivière beseemeth none but my daughter Hayat al-Nufus;” and, turning to an eunuch, whose jaw-teeth the Princess had knocked out for reasons best known to herself,296 he called to him and said, “Carry the necklace to thy lady and say to her:—One of the Kings hath sent thy father this, as a present, and its price may not be paid with money; put it on thy neck.” The slave took the necklace, saying in himself, “Allah Almighty make it the last thing she shall put on in this world, for that she deprived me of the benefit of my grinder-teeth!”; and repairing to the Princess’s apartment, found the door locked and the old woman asleep before the threshold. He shook her, and she awoke in affright and asked, “What dost thou want?”; to which he answered, “The King hath sent me on an errand to his daughter.” Quoth the nurse, “The key is not here, go away, whilst I fetch it;” but quoth he, “I cannot go back to the King without having done his commandment.” So she went away, as if to fetch the key; but fear overtook her and she sought safety in flight. Then the eunuch awaited her awhile; then, finding she did not return, he feared that the King would be angry at his delay; so he rattled at the door and shook it, whereupon the bolt gave way and the leaf opened. He entered and passed on, till he came to the seventh door and walking in to the Princess’s chamber found the place splendidly furnished and saw candles and flagons there. At this spectacle he marvelled and going close up to the bed, which was curtained by a hanging of silk, embroidered with a net-work of jewels, drew back the curtain from before the Princess and saw her sleeping with her arms about the neck of a young man handsomer than herself; whereat he magnified Allah Almighty, who had created such a youth of vile water, and said, “How goodly be this fashion for one who hateth men! How came she by this fellow? Methinks ’twas on his account that she knocked out my back teeth!” Then he drew the curtain and made for the door; but the King’s daughter awoke in affright and seeing the eunuch, whose name was Káfúr, called to him. He made her no answer: so she came down from the bed on the estrade; and catching hold of his skirt laid it on her head and kissed his feet, saying, “Veil what Allah veileth!” Quoth he, “May Allah not veil thee nor him who would veil thee! Thou didst knock out my grinders and saidst to me:—Let none make mention to me aught of men and their ways!” So saying, he disengaged himself from her grasp and running out, locked the door on them and set another eunuch to guard it. Then he went in to the King who said to him? “Hast thou given the necklace to Hayat al-Nufus?” The eunuch replied, “By Allah, thou deservest altogether a better fate;” and the King asked, “What hath happened? Tell me quickly;” whereto he answered, “I will not tell thee, save in private and between our eyes,” but the King retorted, saying, “Tell me at once and in public.” Cried the eunuch, “Then grant me immunity.” So the King threw him the kerchief of immunity and he said, “O King, I went into the Princess Hayat al-Nufus and found her asleep in a carpeted chamber and on her bosom was a young man. So I locked the door upon the two and came back to thee.” When the King heard these words he started up and taking a sword in his hand, cried out to the Rais of the eunuchs, saying, “Take thy lads and go to the Princess’s chamber and bring me her and him who is with her as they twain lie on the bed; but cover them both up.”–And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.