The Three Hundred and Eighty-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 Kazi’s wife came up to him and passing her palm over his paunch presently cried, “Extolled be He, O my lord:  verily thou art pregnant and a babe is in thy belly.”  Quoth the Kazi, “How shall a man bear a child?” and quoth she, “Allah createth whatso He willeth.”  And as they two sat at talk the flatulence and belly-ache increased and violent colic[FN#214] set in and the torments waxed still more torturing.  Then the wife rose up and disappeared but presently she returned with her pauper neighbour’s newly-born babe in her sleeve, its mother accompanying it:  she also brought a large basin of copper and she found her husband rolling from right to left and crying aloud in his agony.  At last the qualms[FN#215] in his stomach were ready to burst forth and the rich food to issue from his body, and when this delivery was near hand the wife privily set the basin under him like a close stool and fell to calling upon the Holy Names and to shampooing and rubbing down his skin while she ejaculated, “The name of Allah be upon thee!"[FN#216] But all this was of her malice.  At last the prima via opened and the Kazi let fly, whereat his wife came quickly behind and setting the babe upon its back gently pinched it so that it began to wail, and said, “O man, Alhamdolillah,—­ laud to the Lord, who hath so utterly relieved thee of thy burthen,” and she fell to muttering Names over the newborn.  Then quoth he, “Have a care of the little one and keep it from cold draughts ;” for the trick had taken completely with the Kazi and he said in his mind, “Allah createth whatso He willeth:  even men if so predestined can bring forth.”  And presently he added, “O woman, look out for a wet nurse to suckle him;” and she replied, “O my lord, the nurse is with me in the women’s apartments.”  Then having sent away the babe and its mother she came up to the Kazi and washed him and removed the basin from under him and made him lie at full length.  Presently after taking thought he said, “O woman, be careful to keep this matter private for fear of the folk who otherwise might say, ‘Our Kazi hath borne a babe.’ " She replied, “O my lord, as the affair is known to other than our two selves how can we manage to conceal it?” and after she resumed, “O my husband, this business can on no wise be hidden from the people for more than a week or at most till next month.”  Herewith he cried out, “O my calamity; if it reach the ears of folk and they say, ‘Our Kazi hath borne a babe,’ then what shall we do?” He pondered the matter until morning when he rose before daylight and, taking some provaunt secretly, made