Now, the urgency of that she had dreamed overcame fear in Kadza, and she said, ’O great Genie and terrible, my dream was this.  Lo!  I saw an assemblage of the beasts of the forests and them that inhabit wild places.  And there was the elephant and the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus, and the camel and the camelopard, and the serpent and the striped tiger; also the antelope, the hyena, the jackal, and above them, eminent in majesty, the lion.  Surely, he sat as ’twere on a high seat, and they like suppliants thronging the presence:  this I saw, the heart on my ribs beating for Shagpat.  And there appeared among the beasts a monkey all ajoint with tricks, jerking with malice, he looking as ’twere hungry for the doing of things detestable; and the lion scorned him, and I marked him ridicule the lion:  ’twas so.  And the lion began to scowl, and the other beasts marked the displeasure of the lion.  Then chased they that monkey from the presence, and for awhile he was absent, and the lion sat in his place gravely, with calm, receiving homage of the other beasts; and down to his feet came the eagle that’s lord of air, and before him kneeled the great elephant, and the subtle serpent eyed him with awe.  But soon did that monkey, the wretched animal! reappear, and there was no peace for the lion, he worrying till close within stretch of the lion’s paw!  Wah! the lion might have crushed him, but that he’s magnanimous.  And so it was that as the monkey advanced the lion roared to him, “Begone!”

’And the monkey cried, “Who commandeth?”

’So the lion roared, “The King of beasts and thy King!”

’Then that monkey cried, “Homage to the King of beasts and my King!  Allah keep him in his seat, and I would he were visible.”

’So the lion roared, “He sitteth here acknowledged, thou graceless animal! and he’s before thee apparent.”

’Then the monkey affected eagerness, and gazed about him, and peered on this beast and on that, exclaiming like one that’s injured and under slight, “What’s this I’ve done, and wherein have I offended, that he should be hidden from me when pointed out?”

’So the lion roared, “’Tis I where I sit, thou offensive monkey!”

’Then that monkey in the upper pitch of amazement, “Thou!  Is it for created thing to acknowledge a king without a tail?  And, O beasts of the forest and the wilderness, how say ye?  Am I to blame that I bow not to one that hath it not?”

’Upon that, the lion rose, and roared in the extreme of wrath; but the word he was about to utter was checked in him, for ’twas manifest that where he would have lashed a tail he shook a stump, wagging it as the dog doth.  Lo! when the lion saw that, the majesty melted from him, and in a moment the plumpness of content and prosperity forsook him, so that his tawny skin hung flabbily and his jaw drooped, and shame deprived him of stateliness; abashed was he!  Now, seeing the lion shamed in this manner,