So she cried, 'Take this!' Then, seeing he hesitated, she unclosed from
her left palm a powder, and scattered

it over him; and he grew meek, and the bending knee of obedience was his,
and he took the saddle. So she said, ''Tis well! Go now, and wait
outside the city in the shape of an Ass, with this saddle on thy back.'

The Genie groaned, and said, 'To hear is to obey!' And he departed with
those words, for she held him in bondage. Then she calmed down the white
flames of the circles that enclosed Shibli Bagarag and the Vizier
Feshnavat, and they stepped forth, marvelling at the greatness of her
sorceries that held such a Genie in bondage.






THE WELL OF PARAVID

Now, there was haste in the movements of Noorna bin Noorka, and she
arrayed herself and clutched Shibli Bagarag by the arm, and the twain
departed from Feshnavat the Vizier, and came to the outside of the city,
and lo! there was the Genie by a well under a palm, and he standing in
the shape of an Ass, saddled. So they mounted him, and in a moment they
were in the midst of the desert, and naught round them save the hot
glimmer of the sands and the grey of the sky. Surely, the Ass went at
such a pace as never Ass went before in this world, resting not by the
rivulets, nor under the palms, nor beside the date-boughs; it was as if
the Ass scurried without motion of his legs, so swiftly went he. At last