Then said he, "This, O King! is my tale: hast thou ever heard
one stranger?" So Taj al-Muluk marvelled with great marvel at the
young merchant's story, and fire darted into his entrails on
hearing the name of the Lady Dunya and her loveliness.--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir
Dandan continued to Zau al-Makan: Now when Taj al-Muluk heard the
story of the young merchant, he marvelled with great marvel and
fire darted into his entrails on hearing the name of the Lady
Dunya who, as he knew, had embroidered the gazelles; and his love
and longing hourly grew, so he said to the youth, "By Allah, that
hath befallen thee whose like never befel any save thyself, but
thou hast a life term appointed, which thou must fulfil; and now
I would fain ask of thee a question." Quoth Aziz, "And what is
it?" Quoth he, "Wilt thou tell me how thou sawest the young lady
who wrought these gazelles?" Then he, "O my lord, I got me access
to her by a sleight and it was this. When I entered her city
with the caravan, I went forth and wandered about the garths till
I came to a flower garden abounding in trees, whose keeper was a
venerable old man, a Shaykh stricken in years. I addressed him,
saying, 'O ancient sir, whose may be this garden?' and he
replied, 'It belongs to the King's daughter, the Lady Dunya. We
are now beneath her palace and, when she is minded to amuse
herself, she openeth the private wicket and walketh in the garden
and smelleth the fragrance of the flowers.' So I said to him,