At these words of the King there rose a shout of vindictiveness and fury;
but he cried, 'Punishment on the offenders in season, O people! Probably
we have not abased ourselves for the honour that has befallen us in
Shagpat, and the distinction among nations and tribes and races, and
creeds and sects, that we enjoy because of Shagpat. Behold! in abasement
voluntarily undertaken there is exceeding brightness and exaltation; for
how is the sun a sun save that daily he dippeth in darkness, to rise
again freshly majestic? So then, be mine the example, O people of the
City of Shagpat!'

Thereupon lo, the King descended from his throne, and stripped to the
loins, flinging away his glittering crown and his robes, and abased
himself to the dust with loud cries and importunities and howls, and
penitential ejaculations and sobbings; and it was in that Hall as when
the sun goeth down in storm. Likewise the ministers of the King, and the
Viziers and Emirs and officers of state, and slaves, and soldiers of the
guard, bared their limbs, and fell beside the King with violent outcries
and wailings; and the whole of the people in the Hall prostrated their
bodies with wailings and lamentations. And Baba Mustapha feigned to
bewail himself, and Noorna bin Noorka knelt beside Kadza, and shrieked
loudest, striking her breast and scattering her hair; and that Hall was
as a pit full of serpents writhing, and of tigers and lions and wild
beasts howling, each pitching his howl a note above his neighbours, so
that the tone rose and sank, and there was no one soul erect in that Hall
save Shagpat, he on his throne of cushions smiling behind the lathers,
inanimate, serene as they that sin not. After an hour's lapse there came
a pause, and the people hearkened for the voice of the King; but in the
intervals a louder moan would strike their ears, and they whispered among
themselves, "Tis that of the fakir, El Zoop!' and the moaning and howling
prevailed again. And again they heard another moan, a deep one, as of