She said, 'Clean shorn!'

Quoth he, astonished, grief-stricken, with drawn lips, 'By which hand,
chosen above men?'

And she exclaimed, 'O thou witty one that feignest not to know! Wullahy!
by this hand of thine, O my lord and king, daring that it is; dexterous!
surely so! And the shaving of Shagpat was the task achieved,--I the
dower of it, and the rich reward.'

Now, he was meshed yet deeper in the net of her subtleties, and by her
calling him 'lord and king'; and she gave a signal for fresh
entertainments, exhausting the resources of her art, the mines of her
wealth, to fascinate him. Ravishments of design and taste were on every
side, and he was in the lap of abundance, beguiled by magic, caressed by
beauty and a Queen. Marvel not that he was dazzled, and imagined himself
already come to the great things foretold of him by the readers of
planets and the casters of nativities in Shiraz. He assisted in
beguiling himself, trusting wilfully to the two witnesses of things
visible; as is declared by him of wise sayings:

There is in every wizard-net a hole,
So the entangler first must blind the soul.

And it is again said by that same teacher:

Ye that the inner spirit's sight would seal,
Nought credit but what outward orbs reveal.

And the soul of Shibli Bagarag was blinded by Rabesqurat in the depths of