came to the Palace-gate. She entered and the Prince after her,
and she led him on, passing through doors and vestibules, till
they had passed seven doors.[FN#45] As they approached the
seventh, she said to him, "Hearten thy heart and when I call out
to thee and say, 'O damsel pass on!' do not slacken thy pace, but
advance as if about to run. When thou art in the vestibule, look
to thy left and thou wilt see a saloon with doors: count five
doors and enter the sixth, for therein is thy desire." Asked Taj
al-Muluk, "And whither wilt thou go?"; and she answered, "Nowhere
shall I go except that perhaps I may drop behind thee, and the
Chief Eunuch may detain me to chat with him." She walked on (and
he behind her) till she reached the door where the Chief Eunuch
was stationed and he, seeing Taj al-Muluk with her dressed as a
slave girl, said to the old woman, "What business hath this girl
with thee?" Replied she, "This is a slave girl of whom the Lady
Dunya hath heard that she is skilled in different kinds of work
and she hath a mind to buy her." Rejoined the Eunuch, "I know
neither slave girls nor anyone else; and none shall enter here
without my searching according to the King's commands."--And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her
permitted say.

When it was the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
Chamberlain Eunuch cried to the old woman, "I know neither slave
girl nor anyone else; and none shall enter here without my
searching him according to the King's commands." Then quoth she,
feigning to be angry, "I thought thee a man of sense and good
breeding; but, if thou be changed, I will let the Princess know