and Allah will do whatso he will;” presently
adding, “O Khwajah, in yonder direction riseth
a mountain Jabal al-Sah b[FN#501] hight, which is
impenetrable or to mankind or to Jinn-kind; but given
thou avail to reach it thou wilt find therein and
about the middle combe thereof a vast cavern two miles
in breadth by an hundred long. Here, an thou
have in thee force and thou attain thereto and lodge
thy daughter, haply shall Allah Almighty conserve and
preserve the maid from what evils thou heardest the
Voice declare to thee for her destiny: however,
thou shalt on no wise reach those highlands until
thou shalt have expended thereon a matter of much
money. Moreover at the head and front of that
cave[FN#502] is an inner crevice which, extending to
the mountain-top, admitteth daylight into its depths
and displayeth a small pavilion by whose side be five-fold
pleasaunce-gardens with flowers and fruits and rills
and trees besprent and birds hymning Allah, the One,
the Omnipotent. Now an thou avail to convey thy
daughter to that place, she shall dwell there secure,
safe-guarded.” As soon as the Khwajah heard
those words from the Fakir, there faded from his heart
whatso there was of thought and forethought and cark
and care and he took the hand of the Religious whom
he led to his home and honoured him and robed him,
for that he had indicated such place of protection.
When the maiden reached the age of five and had waxed
killing in beauty, her father brought her a learned
Divine with whom she began reading and who taught
her the Koran and writing and the art of caligraphy;[FN#503]
and when she had seen the first decade, she fell to
studying astrology and astronomy and the aspect of
the Heavens. Such was her case; but as regards
that of her sire the Merchant, from the hour he forgathered
with the Darwaysh he ceased not to hold him in his
heart and presently he proposed to take him and travel
with him to the mountain aforementioned. So they
set out together and when they reached it they found
it a site right strong as though fortified, and entering
the antre they fell to considering it right and left
till they reached its head where they came upon the
little pavilion. After all this quoth the Fakir,
“Indeed such stead shall safe-guard thy daughter
from the shifts of the Nights and the Days;”
withal was he unknowing that the Decreed be determined
and must perforce be done, albeit Doom be depending
from the skirts of the clouds.[FN#504] And the Religious
ceased not showing the site until he caused his companion
enter the parterres, which he found as they had been
described to him with flowers and fruits and streams
and trees besprent and birds hymning the One, the
Omnipotent. As soon as they had finished solacing
themselves with the sights, they fared back to their
town where, during their absence-term, the damsel’s
mother had made ready for them viaticum and presents,
and by the time the twain returned they found ready
to hand everything of travel-gear and all the wants