Upon that, Noorna ran to him, and while they searched together for the flea, Baba Mustapha fidgeted and worried in his seat, lurching to the right and to the left, muttering curses; and it was evident he too was persecuted, and there was no peace on the roof of that palace, but pinching and howling and stretching of limbs, and curses snarled in the throat and imprecations on the head of the tormenting flea.  Surely, the soul of Kadza rejoiced, for she knew the flea was Karaz, whom she had brought with her in the loose loop of her girdle through the circle of flame which was a barrier against him.  She glistened at the triumph of the flea, but Noorna strode to her, and took her to the side of the roof, and pitched her down it, and closed the passage to her.  Then ran she to Karavejis and Veejravoosh, whispering in the ear of each, ’No word of the Sword?’ and afterward aloud, ’What think ye will be the term of the staying of my betrothed in Aklis, crowned ape?’

They answered, ’O pearl of the morn, crowned ape till such time as Shagpat be shaved.’

So she beat her breast, crying, ’Oh, utter stagnation, till Shagpat be shaved! and oh, stoppage in the tide of business, dense cloud upon the face of beauty, and frost on the river of events, till Shagpat be shaved!  And oh! my betrothed, crowned ape in Aklis till Shagpat be shaved!’

Then she lifted her hands and arms, and said, ’To him where he is, ye Genii! and away, for he needeth comfort.’

Thereat the glittering spirits dissolved and thinned, and were as taper gleams of curved light across the water in their ascent of the heavens.  When they were gone Noorna, exclaimed, ’Now for the dish of pomegrante grain, O Baba Mustapha, and let nothing delay us further.’

Quoth Baba Mustapha, ’’Tis ordered, O my princess and fair mistress, from the confectioner’s; and with it the sleepy drug from the seller of medicaments—­accursed flea!’

Now, she laughed, and said, ‘What am I, O Baba Mustapha?’

So he said, ’Not thou, O bright shooter of beams, but I, wullahy!  I’m but a bundle of points through the pertinacity of this flea! a house of irritabilities! a mere mass of fretfulness! and I’ve no thought but for the chasing of this unlucky flea:  was never flea like it in the world before this flea; and ’tis a flea to anger the holy ones, and make the saintly Dervish swear at such a flea.’  He wriggled and curled where he sat, and Noorna cried, ’What! shall we be defeated by a flea, we that would shave Shagpat, and release this city and the world from bondage?’ And she looked up to the sky that was then without a cloud, blazing with the sun on his mid seat, and exclaimed, ’O star of Shagpat! wilt thou constantly be in the ascendant, and defeat us, the liberators of men, with a flea?’