When she entered with the porter, the lady who opened the gate shut it, and all three, after having gone through a very fine porch, came into a very spacious court encompassed with an open gallery, which had a communication with several apartments on a floor, and was extremely magnificent.  There was at the further end of the court a sofa richly adorned, with a throne of amber in the middle of it, supported by four columns of ebony, enriched with diamonds and pearls of extraordinary size, and covered with satin embroidered with Indian gold, of admirable workmanship.  In the middle of the court there was a great fountain faced with white marble, and full of clear water, which fell into it abundantly out of the mouth of a lion of brass.

The porter, though very heavily loaded, could not but admire the magnificence of the house, and the excellent order that every thing was placed in; but that which particularly captivated his attention was a third lady, who seemed to be a greater beauty than the second, and was set upon the throne just now mentioned:  she came down from it as soon as she saw the two former ladies, and advanced towards them:  He judged, by the respect which the others showed her, that she was the chief, in which he was not mistaken.  This lady was called Zobeide, she who opened the gate was called Safie, and Amine was the name of her who went out to buy the provisions.

Zobeide says to the two ladies, when she came to them, Sisters, do not you see that this honest man is like to sink under his burden? why do not you ease him of it?  Then Amine and Safie took the basket, the one before and the other behind; Zobeide also lent her hand, mid all three set it on the ground, then emptied it; and when they had done, the beautiful Amine took out money, and paid the porter liberally.

The porter, very well satisfied with the money he had received, was to have taken up his basket and be gone; but he could not tell how to think on it.  Do what he could, he found himself stopped by the pleasure of seeing three such beauties, who appeared to him equally charming; for Amine, having now laid aside her veil, was as handsome as either of them.  That which surprised him most was, that he saw never a man about the house; yet most of the provisions he brought in, as dry fruits, and several sorts of cakes and confections, were fit chiefly for those who could drink and make merry.

Zobeide thought at first that the porter staid only to take his breath; but perceiving that he staid too long, What do you wait for, says she, are you not well enough paid?  And turning to Amine, says, Sister, give him something more, that he may depart satisfied.  Madam, replies the porter, it is not that which stays me.  I am over and above paid; I am sensible that I am unmannerly to stay longer than I ought, but, I hope you will be so good as to pardon me, if I tell you that I am astonished to see that there is no man with three ladies of such extraordinary beauty; and you know that a company of women without men is as melancholy a thing as a company of men without women.  To this he added several very pleasing things to prove what he said, and did not forget the Bagdad proverb, ’That one is never well at a table, unless there be four in company.  And so concluded, that as there were but three, they had need of a fourth.’