One day, while she was at bath, I found myself sleepy after dinner, and lay down upon a sofa; two of her ladies, who were then in my chamber, came and sat down, one at my head, and the other at my feet, with fans in their hands to moderate the heat, and to hinder the flies from troubling me in my sleep.  They thought I was fast, and spoke very low; but I only shut my eyes, and heard every word they said.

One of them says to the other, Is not the queen much in the wrong not to love such an amiable prince as this?  Ay, certainly, replies the other; for my part I do not understand it, and I know not how she goes out every night, and leaves him alone:  is it possible that he does not perceive it?  Alas! says the first, how would you have him to perceive it?  She mixes every evening in his drink the juice of a certain herb, which makes him sleep so sound all night, that she has time to go where she pleases, and as day begins to appear, the comes and lies down by him again, and wakes him by the smell of something she puts under his nose.

You may guess, my lord, how much I was surprised at this discourse, and with what sentiments it inspired me; yet, whatever emotions it made within me, I had command enough over myself to dissemble it, and feigned myself to awake, without having heard one word of it.

The queen returned from the bath; we supped together, and, before we went to bed, she presented me with a cup of water such as I was accustomed to drink; but, instead of putting it to my mouth, I went to a window that stood open, and threw out the water so privately that she did not perceive it, and put the cup again into her hands, to persuade her I had drunk it.

We went to bed together, and soon after, believing that I was asleep, though I was not, she got up with so little precaution, that she said, so loud as I could hear distinctly, Sleep, and may you never awake again.  She dressed herself speedily, and went out of the chamber.  As Scheherazade spoke these words, she saw day appear, and stopped.

Dinarzade had heard, her sister with a great deal of pleasure; and Shahriar thought the history of the king of the Black Isles so worthy of his curiosity, that he rose up full of impatience for the rest of it.

The Twenty-third Night.

An hour before day, Dinarzade, being awake, failed not to call upon the sultaness, and said, Pray, dear sister, go on with the history of the young king of the Black Islands.  Scheherazade, calling to mind where she left off, resumed ths story thus: 

As soon as the queen my wife went out, continues the king of the Black Islands, I got up, dressed me in haste, took my scimitar, and followed her so quick that I soon heard the sound of her feet before me, and then walked softly after her, for fear of being heard.  She passed through several gates, which opened upon her pronouncing some magical words; and the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered:  I stopped at the gate, that she might not perceive me, As she crossed a plot, and looking after her as far as I could in the night, I perceived that she entered a little wood, whose walks were guarded by thick palisadoes.  I went thither by another way, and slipping behind the palisadoes of a long walk, I saw her walking there with a man.