he asked his abidance of the Shaykh and went forth from him—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased saying her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was,

The Four Hundred and Thirty-second Night.

Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the Prince craved for the prayers of the Shaykh, who blessed him.  Then he went forth from him and bought of the lambs what he had been charged to buy, and these he slaughtered and skinned and roasted and he cut each and every into two halves.  He waited until night descended with its darkness and ceased the to-ing and fro-ing of folk, when he arose and walked to the place pointed out and there he found the Lion whose shape and size equaled the stature of a full-grown bull.  He threw to him half a lamb and the beast allowed him to pass through that door, and it was the same with the other entrances, all seven of them, until he reached the eighth.  Here he found the forty slaves who were bestrewn on the ground bedrowned in sleep; so he went in with soft tread and presently he came upon the Bird Philomelet in a cage encrusted with pearls and precious stones and he saw the Princess who owned him lying asleep upon a couch.  Hereat he wrote upon the palm of her hand, “I am Such-and-such, son to the King Such-and-such, of such a city; and I have come in upon thee and beheld thee bared whilst thou wast sleeping, and I have also taken away the Bird.  However, an thou love me and long for me, do thou come to me in mine own city.”  Then he seized the Bird to his prize and fared forth and what he did with the Lions coming that he did when going out.  The Veiler[FN#318] veiled him, and he went forth the city and met not a single soul, and he ceased not faring the livelong night till next morning did appear, when he hid in a place seeking repose and ate somewhat of victual.  But as soon as the daylight shone bright, he arose and continued his journey, praying Allah for protection on his wayfare, till it was mid-afternoon:  then he found, like an oasis in the middle of the waste, certain pastures of the wild Arabs and as he drew near the owner met him and salam’d to him and greeted him and blessed him.  So he lay that night with them till dawn when the Shaykh of the encampment who had heard of the stranger came to him and welcomed him and found him a youth fair of form and favour and saw by his