Quoth the King, “There is no help but that I slay thee,"[FN#165] and the Darwaysh fell to gentling him but it availed him naught; so as soon as he was certified that the Sultan would not release him or dismiss him, he arose and drew a wide ring upon the ground in noose shape and measuring some fifteen ells, within which he described a lesser circle.  Then he stood up before the Sovran and said, “O King of the Age, verily this greater circle is the dominion belonging to thee, whilst the lesser round is mine own realm.”  So saying he moved from his place and stepped forwards and passing into the smaller ring quoth he, “An thy reign, O King of the Age, be not ample for me I will inhabit my own;” and forthright upon entering the lesser circle he vanished from the view of those present.  Cried the Sultan to the Lords of the land, “Seize him”; but they availed not to find him, and after going forth in search they returned and reported that they could light upon no one.  Then said the Sovran, “He was beside me in this place and passed into the smaller ring; so do ye seek for him again;” and accordingly they went forth once more but could not see a trace of him.  Hereupon the Sultan repented and cried, “There is no Majesty and there is no Might save in Allah the Glorious, the Great:  verily we have exceeded in the matter of this Darwaysh and we have hearkened to the words of hypocrites who caused us to fall into trouble by obeying them in all they said to me against him.  However, whatso they did to me that will I do unto them.”  And as soon as it was morning-tide and the Lords of the land forgathered in the Divan, the Sultan commanded to slay those who had counselled him to kill the Darwaysh, and some of them were done to death and others of them were banished the country.[FN#166] Now when the Caliph Harun al-Rashid heard this narrative from Manjab, he wondered with extreme wonderment and said to him, “By Allah, O Manjab, thou deservest to be a cup-companion of the Kings:”  so he created him from that moment his Equerry in honour to the Grand Wazir Ja’afar the Barmaki, whereof he had become brother-in-law.  Now after some time Al-Rashid asked from Manjab a tale concerning the wiles of womankind, and when the youth hung his head groundwards and blushed before him, Harun said to him, “O Manjab, verily the place of the Kings in privacy is also the place for laying aside gravity.”  Said Manjab, “O Prince of True Believers, to-morrow night (Inshallah!) I will tell thee a tale in brief concerning the freaks of the gender feminine, and what things they do with their mates.”  Accordingly when night came on, the Caliph sent for and summoned Manjab to the presence, and when he came there he kissed ground and said, “An it be thy will, O Commander of the Faithful, that I relate thee aught concerning the wiles of wives, let it be in a private place lest haply one of the slave-girls hear me and any of them report my tale to the Queen.”  Quoth Rashid, “This is the right rede which may not be blamed indeed!” So he went with him to a private place concealed from the folk, and took seat, he and the youth, and none beside, when Manjab related to him the following