like. Now when Naomi caught sight of him she veiled her face from
him; but he left her not till he had called his Chamberlain, whom
he commanded to take fifty horsemen; and he bade him mount the
damsel on a swift dromedary, and bear her to Damascus and there
deliver her to the Commander of the Faithful, Abd al-Malik bin
Marwan. Moreover, he gave him a letter for the Caliph, saying,
"Bear him this letter and bring me his answer and hasten thy
return to me." So the Chamberlain, without losing time, took the
damsel (and she tearful for separation from her lord) and,
setting out with her on a dromedary, gave not over journeying
till he reached Damascus. There he sought audience of the
Commander of the Faithful and, when it was granted, the
Chamberlain delivered the damsel and reported the circumstance.
The Caliph appointed her a separate apartment and going into his
Harim, said to his wife, "Al Hajjaj hath bought me a slave-girl
of the daughters of the Kings of Cufa[FN#10] for ten thousand
dinars, and hath sent me this letter."-- And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Fortieth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Caliph acquainted his wife with the story of the slave-girl, she
said to him, "Allah increase to thee His favour!" Then the
Caliph's sister went in to the supposed slave-girl and, when she
saw her, she said, "By Allah, not unlucky is the man who hath
thee in his house, were thy cost an hundred thousand dinars!" And
Naomi replied, "O fair of face, what King's palace is this, and
what is the city?" She answered, "This is the city of Damascus,
and this is the palace of my brother, the Commander of the