to her pavilion. So they entered all, for that it was the
appointed time of the morning-meal and they had set one table for
the Sultan and the Lady Bedrulbudour and Alaeddin and another for
the Vizier and the officers of state and grandees of the realm
and captains and chamberlains and deputies. The Sultan sat
between his daughter, the Lady Bedrulbudour, and his son-in- law
Alaeddin, and when he put his hand to the food and tasted it,
wonder took him at the richness of the meats and the
exquisiteness of their seasonings. [FN#517] Now there stood before
them fourscore damsels, each as it were she said to the full
moon, "Rise, so I may sit in thy place;" and in each one's hand
was an instrument of mirth and music. So they tuned their
instruments and touched their strings and struck up with
plaintive [FN#518] airs that dilated the mourning heart. [FN#519]
The Sultan was cheered and the time was pleasant to him and he
rejoiced and said, " Verily, Kings and Kaisers would fail
of [FN#520] this thing;"

Then they fell to eating and drinking and the cup went round
among them till they had taken their sufficiency, when there came
sweetmeats [FN#521] and various kinds of fruits and so forth; and
these were laid in another saloon. So they removed thither and
took their fill of those dainties; after which the Sultan arose,
that he might see if the work of the jewellers and goldsmiths
likened that of the palace. So he went up to them and viewed
their work and how they wrought and saw that they were far from
availing to do work like that [of the rest] of Alaeddin's
palace. [FN#522] Moreover [FN#523] they told him that all they
found in his treasury they had brought and it sufficed not;
whereupon he bade open the Great Treasury and give them what they