the maiden and repeated his enquiries, when she made answer saying, “O my lord, my tale is wondrous and my adventures marvellous.”  “And what may they be?” he asked her.—­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 enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night an the Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The Three Hundred and Seventy-ninth 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 Princess said to the Sultan, “In very sooth my tale is passing strange,” and he besought her to recount it.  So she began to disclose the whole of her history and the adventures which had befallen her and her sisters and their mother; especially of the shipwreck in middle-most ocean and of her coming to land; after which she told the affair of the Wazir burnt by her sire, that traitor who had separated children from father and, brief, all that had betided them from first to last.  Hearing her soft speech and her strange story the Sultan marvelled and his heart inclined herwards; then he gave her in charge to the Palace women and conferred upon her favours and benefits.  But when he looked upon her beauty and loveliness, her brilliancy and perfect grace he fell deeply in love with her, and his daughter hearing the accidents which had happened to the Princess’s father cried, “By Allah, the story of this damsel should be chronicled in a book, that it become the talk of posterity and be quoted as an instance of the omnipotence of Allah Almighty; for He it is who parteth and scattereth and re-uniteth.”  So saying she took her and carried her to her own apartment where she entreated her honourably; and the maiden, after she had spent a month in the Palace, showed charms grown two-fold and even more.  At last one day of the days, as she sat beside the King’s daughter in her chamber about eventide, when the sun was hot after a sultry summer day and her cheeks had flushed rosy red, behold, the Sultan entered passing through the room on his way to the Harem and his glance undesignedly[FN#189] fell upon the Princess who was in home gear, and he looked a look of eyes that cost him a thousand sighs.  So he was astounded and stood motionless knowing not whether to go or to come; and when his daughter sighted him in such plight she went up to him and said, “What hath betided thee and brought thee to this condition?” Quoth he, “By Allah, this girl hath stolen my senses from my soul:  I am fondly enamoured of