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

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir
Dandan thus continued his tale to Zau al-Makan: Then quoth the
youth Aziz to Taj al-Muluk, Now when I found my life at the mercy
of her slave women with my cheeks dust soiled, and I saw her
sharpen the knife, I made sure of death and cried out to her for
mercy. But she only redoubled in ferocity and ordered the slave
girls to pinion my hands behind me, which they did; and, throwing
me on my back, she seated herself on my middle and held down my
head. Then two of them came up and squatted on my shin bones,
whilst other two grasped my hands and arms; and she summoned a
third pair and bade them beat me. So they beat me till I fainted
and my voice failed. When I revived, I said to myself, " 'Twere
easier and better for me to have my gullet slit than to be beaten
on this wise!" And I remembered the words of my cousin, and how
she used to say to me, "Allah, keep thee from her mischief!"; and
I shrieked and wept till my voice failed and I remained without
power to breathe or to move. Then she again whetted the knife
and said to the slave girls, "Uncover him." Upon this the Lord
inspired me to repeat to her the two phrases my cousin had taught
me, and had bequeathed to me, and I said, "O my lady, dost thou
not know that Faith is fair, Unfaith is foul?" When she heard
this, she cried out and said, "Allah pity thee, Azizah, and give
thee Paradise in exchange for thy wasted youth! By Allah, of a
truth she served thee in her life time and after her death, and
now she hath saved thee alive out of my hands with these two
saws. Nevertheless, I cannot by any means leave thee thus, but
needs must I set my mark on thee, to spite yonder brazen faced
piece, who hath kept thee from me." There upon she called out to