thee with these perfections was a cunning craftsman, and if the
Almighty extend the term of my life and restore me to my country and

kinsfolk in safety and reunite me with my father, I will assuredly
bestow upon him all manner bounties and benefit him with the utmost

beneficence."
By this time night had overtaken him and he sat on the roof till

he was assured that all in the palace slept, and indeed hunger and
thirst were sore upon him for that he had not tasted food nor drunk

water since he parted from his sire. So he said within himself,
"Surely the like of this palace will not lack of victual," and,

leaving the horse above, went down in search of somewhat to eat.
Presently he came to a staircase and, descending it to the bottom,

found himself in a court paved with white marble and alabaster,
which shone in the light of the moon. He marveled at the place and the

goodliness of its fashion, but sensed no sound of speaker and saw no
living soul and stood in perplexed surprise, looking right and left

and knowing not whither he should wend. Then said he to himself, "I
may not do better than return to where I left my horse and pass the

night by it, and as soon as day shall dawn I will mount and ride
away."

However, as he tarried talking to himself, he espied a light
within the palace, and making toward it, found that it came from a

candle that stood before a door of the harem, at the head of a
sleepingeunuch, as he were one of the Ifrits of Solomon or a

tribesman of the Jinn, longer than lumber and broader than a bench. He
lay before the door, with the pommel of his sword gleaming in the

flame of the candle, and at his head was a bag of leather hanging from
a column of granite. When the Prince saw this, he was affrighted and

said, "I crave help from Allah the Supreme! O mine Holy One, even as
Thou hast already delivered me from destruction, so vouchsafe me

strength to quit myself of the adventure of this palace!" So saying,
he put out his hand to the budget and taking it, carried it aside

and opened it and found in it food of the best.
He ate his fill and refreshed himself and drank water, after which

he hung up the provision bag in its place and drawing the eunuch's
sword from its sheath, took it, whilst the slave slept on, knowing not

whence Destiny should come to him. Then the Prince fared forward
into the palace and ceased not till he came to a second door, with a

curtain drawn before it. So he raised the curtain and, behold, on
entering he saw a couch of the whitest ivory inlaid with pearls and

jacinths and jewels, and four slave girls sleeping about it. He went
up to the couch, to see what was thereon, and found a young lady lying

asleep, chemised with her hair as she were the full moon rising over
the eastern horizon, with flower-white brow and shining hair parting

and cheeks like blood-red anemones, and dainty moles thereon. He was
amazed at her as she lay in her beauty and loveliness, her symmetry

and grace, and he recked no more of death.
So he went up to her, trembling in every nerve, and, shuddering with

pleasure, kissed her on the right cheek, whereupon she awoke
forthright and opened her eyes, and seeing the Prince standing at

her head, said to him, "Who art thou, and whence comest thou?" Quoth
he, "I am thy slave and thy lover." Asked she, "And who brought thee

hither?" and he answered, "My Lord and my fortune." Then said Shams
al-Nahar (for such was her name) "Haply thou art he who demanded me

yesterday of my father in marriage and he rejected thee, pretending
that thou wast foul of favor. By Allah, my sire lied in his throat

when he spoke this thing, for thou art not other than beautiful."
Now the son of the King of Hind had sought her in marriage, but her

father had rejected him for that he was ugly and uncouth, and she
thought the Prince was he. So when she saw his beauty and grace (for

indeed he was like the radiant moon) the syntheism of love gat hold of
her heart as it were a flaming fire, and they fell to talk and

converse.
Suddenly, her waiting women awoke and, seeing the Prince with

their mistress, said to her, "O my lady, who is this with thee?" Quoth
she: "I know not. I found him sitting by me when I woke up. Haply 'tis

he who seeketh me in marriage of my sire." Quoth they, "O my lady,
by Allah the All-Father, this is not he who seeketh thee in

marriage, for he is hideous and this man is handsome and of high
degree. Indeed, the other is not fit to be his servant." Then the

handmaidens went out to the eunuch, and finding him slumbering,
awoke him, and he started up in alarm. Said they, "How happeth it that

thou art on guard at the palace and yet men come in to us whilst we
are asleep?" When the black heard this, he sprang in haste to his

sword, but found it not, and fear took him, and trembling. Then he
went in, confounded, to his mistress and seeing the Prince sitting

at talk with her, said to him, "O my lord, art thou man or Jinni?"
Replied the Prince: "Woe to thee, O unluckiest of slaves. How darest

thou even the sons of the royal Chosroes with one of the unbelieving
Satans?" And he was as a raging lion.

Then he took the sword in his hand and said to the slave, "I am
the King's son-in-law, and he hath married me to his daughter and

bidden me go in to her." And when the eunuch heard these words he
replied, "O my lord, if thou be indeed of kind a man as thou

avouchest, she is fit for none but for thee, and thou art worthier
of her than any other." Thereupon the eunuch ran to the King,

shrieking loud and rending his raiment and heaving dust upon his head.
And when the King heard his outcry, he said to him: "What hath

befallen thee? Speak quickly and be brief, for thou hast fluttered
my heart." Answered the eunuch, "O King, come to thy daughter's

succor, for a devil of the Jinn, in the likeness of a King's son
hath got possession of her, so up and at him!"

When the King heard this, he thought to kill him and said, "How
camest thou to be careless of my daughter and let this demon come at

her?" Then he betook himself to the Princess's palace, where he
found her slave women standing to await him, and asked them, "What

is come to my daughter?" "O King," answered they, "slumberovercome的过去式">overcame us
and when we awoke, we found a young man sitting upon her couch in talk

with her, as he were the full moon. Never saw we aught fairer of favor
than he. So we questioned him of his case and he declared that thou

hadst given him thy daughter in marriage. More than this we know
not, nor do we know if he be a man or a Jinni, but he is modest and

well-bred, and doth nothing unseemly or which leadeth to disgrace."
Now when the King heard these words, his wrath cooled, and he raised

the curtain little by little and looking in, saw sitting at talk
with his daughter a Prince of the goodliest, with a face like the full

moon for sheen. At this sight he could not contain himself, of his
jealousy for his daughter's honor, and putting aside the curtain,

rushed in upon them drawn sword in hand like a furious Ghul. Now
when the Prince saw him he asked the Princess, "Is this thy sire?" and

she answered, "Yes." Whereupon he sprang, to his feet and, seizing his
sword, cried out at the King with so terrible a cry that he was

confounded. Then the youth would have fallen on him with the sword,
but the King, seeing that the Prince was doughtier than he, sheathed

his scimitar and stood till the young man came up to him, when he
accosted him courteously and said to him, "O youth, art thou a man

or a Jinni?" Quoth the Prince: "Did I not respect thy right as mine
host and thy daughter's honor, I would spill thy blood! How darest

thou fellow me with devils, me that am a Prince of the sons of the
royal Chosroes, who, had they wished to take thy kingdom, could

shake thee like an earthquake from thy glory and thy dominions, and
spoil thee of all thy possessions?"

Now when the King heard his words, he was confounded with awe and
bodily fear of him and rejoined: "If thou indeed be of the sons of the

Kings, as thou pretendest, how cometh it that thou enterest my
palace without my permission, and smirchest mine honor, making thy way

to my daughter and feigning that thou art her husband and claiming
that I have given her to thee to wife, I that have slain kings and

king's sons who sought her of me in marriage? And now who shall save