in vain.  Presently the Kazi left her and repaired to his court-house whither the city folk came and gave him joy of his marriage and wished him good morning, saying in themselves, “Needs must he make a mighty fine bride feast.”  But they sat there to no purpose until past noon when each went his own way privily damning the judge’s penuriousness.  As soon as they were gone he returned to his Harem and cried out to his black wench, “O handmaiden, fetch the fringed table-cloth;” and his bride hearing this rejoiced, saying to herself, “By Allah, his calling for this cloth requireth a banquet which befitteth it, food suitable for the Kings.”  The negress arose and faring forth for a short time returned with the cloth richly fringed and set upon it a Kursi-stool,[FN#209] and a tray of brass whereon were served three biscuits and three onions.  When the bride saw this, she prayed in her heart saying, “Now may my Lord wreak my revenge upon my father!” but her husband cried to her, “Come hither, my girl,” and the three sat down to the tray wherefrom each took a biscuit and an onion.  The Kazi and the negress ate all their portions, but the bride could not swallow even a third of the hard bread apportioned to her; so she rose up, heartily cursing her father’s ambition in her heart.  At supper-tide it was the same till the state of things became longsome to her and this endured continuously for three days, when she was ready to sink with hunger.  So she sent for her sire and cried aloud in his face.  The Kazi hearing the outcries of his bride asked, “What is to do?” whereupon they informed him that the young woman was not in love with this style of living.—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, 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 Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

          The Three Hundred and Eighty-seventh 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 bride was not in love with the Kazi’s mode of living; so he took her and cut off her nose and divorced her, falsely declaring that she had behaved frowardly.  On the next day he proposed for another wife and married her and entreated her in like fashion as the first; and when she demanded a divorce, he shredded off her nostrils and put her away; and whatever woman he espoused he starved by his stinginess and tortured with hunger, and when any demanded a divorce he would chop off her nose on false presences and put her away without