his affair.
Then said the Wazir: "May Allah damn this woman for her dealing with

us! She hath brought hither all the chief officers of the state,
except the King. Quoth the King, "Hold your peace, for I was the first

to fall into the toils of this lewd strumpet." Whereat cried the
carpenter: "And I, what have I done? I made her a cabinet for four

gold pieces, and when I came to seek my hire, she tricked me into
entering this compartment and locked the door on me." And they fell to

talking with one another, diverting the King and doing away his
chagrin. Presently the neighbors came up to the house and, seeing it

deserted, said one to other: "But yesterday our neighbor, the wife
of Such-a-one, was in it, but now no sound is to be heard therein

nor is soul to be seen. Let us break open the doors and see how the
case stands, lest it come to the ears of the Wali or the King and we

be cast into prison and regret not doing this thing before."
So they broke open the doors and entered the saloon, where they

saw a large woodencabinet and heard men within groaning for hunger
and thirst. Then said one of them, "Is there a Jinni in this

cabinet?-and his fellow, "Let us heap fuel about it and burn it with
fire." When the Kazi heard this, he bawled out to them, "Do it not!"

And they said to one another, " Verily the Jinn make believe to be
mortals and speak with men's voices." Thereupon the Kazi repeated

somewhat of the Sublime Koran and said to the neighbors, "Draw near to
the cabinetwherein we are." So they drew near, and he said, "I am

So-and-so the Kazi, and ye are Such-a-one and Such-a-one, and we are
here a company." Quoth the neighbors, "Who brought you here?" And he

told them the whole case from beginning to end. Then they fetched a
carpenter, who opened the five doors and let out Kazi, Wazir, Wali,

King, and carpenter in their queer disguises; and each, when he saw
how the others were accoutered, fell a-laughing at them. Now she had

taken away all their clothes, so every one of them sent to his
people for fresh clothes and put them on and went out, covering

himself therewith from the sight of the folk. Consider, therefore,
what a trick this woman played off upon the folk!

And I have heard tell also a tale of

• hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
• cabinet [´kæbinit] n.橱，柜；内阁 (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• wooden [´wudn] a.木制的；呆板的 (初中英语单词)
• thirst [θə:st] n.渴，口渴；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• thereupon [,ðeərə´pɔn] ad.因此；于是 (初中英语单词)
• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
• carpenter [´kɑ:pintə] n.木工 vi.做木工活 (初中英语单词)
• therewith [ðɛə´wið] ad.于是，随即 (初中英语单词)
• dealing [´di:liŋ] n.交易；来往 (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
• saloon [sə´lu:n] n.大厅；餐车 (高中英语单词)
• wherein [weər´in] ad.那里面 (高中英语单词)
• whereat [weər´æt] ad.对于...；在这里 (英语四级单词)
• compartment [kəm´pɑ:tmənt] n.间隔；隔室 (英语四级单词)
• verily [´verili] ad.真实的；肯定地 (英语四级单词)
• sublime [sə´blaim] a.崇高的，伟大的 (英语四级单词)