sooth." So he continued to do the occasions of the folk and they
to flock to him, till his fame spread throughout the city and
into the houses of the great. Now, one day as he sat in his-shop,
behold, there came up an old woman riding on an ass with a
stuffed saddle of brocade embroidered with jewels; and, stopping
before the Persian's shop, drew rein and beckoned him, saying,
"Take my hand." He took her hand, and she alighted and asked him
"Art thou the Persian physician from Irak?" "Yes," answered he,
and she said, "Know that I have a sick daughter." Then she
brought out to him a phial--and the Persian looked at it and said
to her, "O my mistress, tell me thy daughter's name, that I may
calculate her horoscope and learn the hour in which it will befit
her to drink medicine." She replied, "O my brother the
Persian,[FN#14] her name is Naomi."-- And Shahrazad perceived the
dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Forty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that when the
Persian heard the name of Naomi, he fell to calculating and
writing on his hand and presently said, "O my lady, I cannot
prescribe a medicine for her till I know what country woman she
is, because of the difference of climate: so tell me in what land
she was brought up and what is her age." The old woman replied
"She is fourteen years old and she was brought up in Cufa of
Irak." He asked, "And how long hath she sojourned in this
country?" "But a few months," answered she. Now when Ni'amah
heard the old woman's words and recognised the name of his slave-
girl, his heart fluttered and he was like to faint. Then said the
Persian, "Such and such medicines will suit her case;" and the