“’Tis naught but this! When a-sudden I see her ✿ Mumchance I bide nor a word can say her.”
So I weighed out for her the five hundred ducats, and she took them and went away; whereupon I arose and followed her myself, till she came to the jewel-bazar, where she stopped at a man’s shop and took of him a necklace. Then she turned and seeing me, said, “Pay him five hundred dinars for me.” When the jeweller saw me, he rose to me and made much of me, and I said to him, “Give her the necklace and set down the price to me.” He replied, “I hear and obey,” and she took it and went away;——And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.
Now when it was the Nine Hundred and Sixty-first Night,
She pursued, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Abu Hasan the Khorasani thus pursued his tale:—So I said to the jeweller, “Give her the necklace and set down the price to me.” Then she took it and went away; but I followed her, till she came to the Tigris and boarded a boat there, whereupon I signed with my hand to the ground, as who should say, “I kiss it before thee.” She went off laughing, and I stood watching her, till I saw her land and enter a palace, which when I considered, I knew it for the palace of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil. So I turned back, O Commander of the Faithful, with all the cares in the world fallen on my heart, for she had of me three thousand dinars, and I said to myself, “She hath taken my wealth and ravished my wit, and peradventure I shall lose my life for her love.” Then I returned home and told my mother all that had befallen me, and she said, “O my son, beware how thou have to do with her after this, or thou art lost.” When I went to my shop, my factor in the drug-market, who was a very old man, came to me and said, “O my lord, how is it that I see thee changed in case and showing marks of chagrin? Tell me what aileth thee.” So I told him all that had befallen me with her and he said, “O my son, this is indeed one of the handmaidens of the palace of the Commander of the Faithful and haply she is the Caliph’s favourite concubine: so do thou reckon the money as spent for the sake of Almighty Allah[354] and occupy thyself no more with her. An she come again, beware lest she have to do with thee and tell me of this, that I may devise thee some device lest perdition betide thee.” Then he fared forth and left me with a flame of fire in my heart. At the end of the month behold, she came again and I rejoiced in her with exceeding joy. Quoth she, “What ailed thee to follow me?”; and quoth I, “Excess of passion that is in my heart urged me to this,” and I wept before her. She wept for ruth of me and said, “By Allah, there is not in thy heart aught of love-longing but in my heart is more! Yet how shall I do? By Allah, I have no resource save to see thee thus once a month.” Then she gave me a bill saying, “Carry this to such an one of such a trade who is my agent and take of him what is named therein.” But I replied, “I have no need of money; be my wealth and my life thy sacrifice!” Quoth she, “I will right soon contrive thee a means of access to me, whatever trouble it cost me.” Then she farewelled me and fared forth, whilst I repaired to the old druggist and told him what had passed. He went with me to the palace of Al-Mutawakkil which I knew for that which the damsel had entered; but the Shaykh was at a loss for a device. Presently he espied a tailor sitting with his prentices at work in his shop, opposite the lattice giving upon the river bank and said to me, “Yonder is one by whom thou shalt win thy wish; but first tear thy pocket and go to him and bid him sew it up. When he hath done this, give him ten dinars.” “I hear and obey,” answered I and taking with me two pieces[355] of Greek brocade, went to the tailor and bade him make of them four suits, two with long-sleeved coats and two without. When he had finished cutting them out and sewing them, I gave him to his hire much more than of wont, and he put out his hand to me with the clothes; but I said, “Take them for thyself and for those who are with thee.” And I fell to sitting with him and sitting long: I also bespoke of him other clothes and said to him, “Hang them out in front of thy shop, so the folk may see them and buy them.” He did as I bade him, and whoso came forth of the Caliph’s palace and aught of the clothes pleased him, I made him a present thereof, even to the doorkeeper. One day of the days the tailor said to me, “O my son, I would have thee tell me the truth of thy case; for thou hast bespoken of me an hundred costly suits, each worth a mint of money, and hast given the most of them to the folk.