Then he turned to the Princess Gulrevaz, and said, ’’Tis Shagpat, exalted, clothed with majesty, O thou morning star of Aklis!’

She said, ’Koorookh is given thee, and waiteth to carry ye both; and for me I will watch that this glass send forth a beam to light ye to that city; so farewell, O thou that art loved!  And delay in nothing to finish the work in hand.’

Now, when he had set his face from the Princess he descended through the roof of the palace, and met the seven youths returning, and they accompanied him through the halls of the palace to that hall where the damsels had duped him.  He was mindful of his promise to the old man crowned, and flashed the Sword a strong flash, so that he who looked on it would be seared in the eyelashes.  Then the doors of the recesses flew apart, eight-and-ninety in number, and he beheld divers sitters on thrones, with the diadem of asses’ ears stiffened upright, and monkeys’ skulls grinning with gems; they having on each countenance the look of sovereigns and the serenity of high estate.  Shibli Bagarag laughed at them, and he thought, ’Wullahy! was I one of these?  I, the beloved of Noorna, destined Master of the Event!’ and he thought, ’Of a surety, if these sitters could but laugh at themselves, there would be a release for them, and the crown would topple off which getteth the homage of asses and monkeys!’ He would have spoken to them, but the sons of Aklis said, ’They have seen the flashing of the Sword, and ’twere well they wake not.’  As they went from the hall the seven youths said, ’Reflect upon the age of these sitters, that have been sitting in the chairs from three to eleven generations back!  And they were searchers of the Sword like thee, but were duped!  In like manner, the hen sitteth in complacency, but she bringeth forth and may cackle; ’tis owing to the aids of Noorna that thou art not one of these sitters, O Master of the Event!’ Now, they paced through the hall of dainty provender, and through the hall of the jewel-fountains, coming to the palace steps, where stood Abarak leaning on his bar.  As they advanced to Abarak, there was a clamour in the halls behind, that gathered in noise like a torrent, and approached, and presently the Master was ware of a sharp stroke on his forehead with a hairy finger, and then a burn, and the Crown that had clung to him toppled off; surely it fell upon the head of the old monkey, the cautious and wise one, he that had made a study of Shibli Bagarag.  Thereupon that monkey stalked scornfully from them; and Abarak cried, ’O Master of the Event! it was better for me to keep the passage of the Seventh Pillar, than be an ape of this order.  Wah! the flashing of the Sword scorcheth them, and they scamper.’

THE VEILED FIGURE