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046 - Night 978 · Arabian Nights Tales from Volume 09

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Speaker 1: Section forty six of the Book of the Thousand Knights
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Speaker 1: under Night, volume nine. This is a librifox recording. All
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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Speaker 1: or the volunteer, please visit librifox dot org. Recording by
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Speaker 1: phone The Book of the Thousand Knights and the Night,
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Speaker 1: Volume nine by Anonymous, translated by Richard Francis Burton, Night
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Speaker 1: nine hundred and seventy eight. When it was the nine
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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy eighth night, she resumed it had reached
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Speaker 1: me o auspicious king that kamar Olzaman said to Master
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Speaker 1: Obyde the Jeweler. Verily, I entered thy city naked and
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Speaker 1: thy closest me, and I owe thee many a kindness.
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Speaker 1: But I will requite thee and do with thee even
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Speaker 1: as thou didst with me. Nay more so be of
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Speaker 1: good cheer and eyes clear of tear. And he went
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Speaker 1: on to soothe him and hinder him from speech, lest
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Speaker 1: he should name his wife and what she had done
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Speaker 1: with him. Nor did he seize the plant him with
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Speaker 1: souls and moral instances and verses, and conceits in stories
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Speaker 1: and legends, and console him till the jewelers saw his
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Speaker 1: drift and took the hint and kept silence concerning the past,
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Speaker 1: diverting himself with the tales and rare anecdotes he heard,
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Speaker 1: and repeating in himself these lines on the brow of
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Speaker 1: the world, it is a writ, And thereupon thou look
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Speaker 1: its contents will compel thine eyes tears of blood to reign.
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Speaker 1: For the world never handed to humans a cup with
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Speaker 1: its right, but what left it compelled them a beaker
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Speaker 1: of ruin to drain. Then Kamar al Zaman and his
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Speaker 1: father took abide, and, carrying him into the saloon of
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Speaker 1: the Harim, shut themselves up with him. And Abd al
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Speaker 1: Raman said to him, we did not hinder thee from
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Speaker 1: speaking before the folk, but for fear of dishonor to
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Speaker 1: THEE and to us. But now we are private. So
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Speaker 1: tell me all that hath passed between THEE and thy
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Speaker 1: wife and my son. So he told him all from
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Speaker 1: beginning to end. And when he had made an end
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Speaker 1: of the story, Abd al Raman asked him, was the
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Speaker 1: fault with my son or with thy wife? He answered,
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Speaker 1: by Allah, thy son was not to blame, for men
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Speaker 1: must needs lust after women, and disabounding duty of women
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Speaker 1: to defend themselves from men. So the sin lieth with
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Speaker 1: my wife, who played me false and did with thee
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Speaker 1: these deeds. Then abd Araman arose, and, taking a son aside,
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Speaker 1: said to him, O, my son, we have proved his
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Speaker 1: wife and know her to be a treatress. And now
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Speaker 1: I mean to prove him and see if he be
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Speaker 1: a man of honor and manliness or a wittol. How
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Speaker 1: so asked Kamar al Zaman, And abd Araman answered, I
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Speaker 1: mean to urge him to make peace with his wife,
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Speaker 1: And if he consent there to and forgive her, I
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Speaker 1: will smite him with a sword and slay him, and
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Speaker 1: kill her after her and her maid, For there is
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Speaker 1: no good in the life of a cuckold and a queen.
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Speaker 1: But if he turn learn from her with aversion, I
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Speaker 1: will marry him to thy sister, and give him more
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Speaker 1: of wealth than that thou tookst from him. Then he
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Speaker 1: went back to Abide and said to him, O, Master, Verily,
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Speaker 1: the commerce of women requireth patience and magnanimity, and whoso
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Speaker 1: love at them hath need of fortitude. For that. They
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Speaker 1: ordered themselves fiber wise towards men, and evily entreat them
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Speaker 1: by reason of their superiority over them in beauty and loveliness.
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Speaker 1: Wherefore they magnify themselves and belittle men. This is notably
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Speaker 1: the case when their husbands show them affection, for then
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Speaker 1: they requite them with hauteur and coquetry, and harsh dealing
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Speaker 1: of all kinds. But if a man be wroth whenever
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Speaker 1: he seeth in his wife ought that offendeth him, there
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Speaker 1: can be no fellowship between them, nor can any hit
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Speaker 1: it off with them who is not magnanimous and long suffering.
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Speaker 1: And unless a man bear with his wife and requite
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Speaker 1: her foul doing with forgiveness, he shall get no good
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Speaker 1: of her conversation. Indeed, it hath been said of them,
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Speaker 1: were they in the sky, the next of men would
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Speaker 1: incly them words. And he who hath power and pardoneth
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Speaker 1: his reward is with Allah. Now this woman is thy
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Speaker 1: wife and thy companion, and shad long consorted with thee.
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Speaker 1: Wherefore it behoveth that thou entreat her with indulgence, which
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Speaker 1: in fellowship is of the essentials of success. Furthermore, women
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Speaker 1: fail in wit and faith, And if she hath sinned,
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Speaker 1: she repenteth and inchallah. She will not again return to
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Speaker 1: that which she wailem did. So tis my reed that
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Speaker 1: thou make peace with her, and I will restore THEE
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Speaker 1: more than the good she took. And if it please
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Speaker 1: THEE to abide with me, thou art welcome thou, and
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Speaker 1: she and ye shall see nought. But what shall joy
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Speaker 1: you both, but an thou seek to return to thine
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Speaker 1: own land. For that which followed out between a man
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Speaker 1: and his wife is manifold, and it behoveth THEE to
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Speaker 1: be indulgent and not take the way of the Violand
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Speaker 1: said the jeweler, O, my lord, and where is my wife?
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Speaker 1: And said abd Alaman, she is in that upper chamber.
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Speaker 1: Go up to her and be easy with her for
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Speaker 1: my sake, and trouble her not, For when my son
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Speaker 1: brought her hither, he would have married her. But I
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Speaker 1: forbade him from her, and shut her up in yonder room,
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Speaker 1: and lock the door upon her, saying in myself, haply
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Speaker 1: her husband will come, and I will hand her over
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Speaker 1: to him safe, for she is fair of favor. And
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Speaker 1: when a woman is like unto this one, it may
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Speaker 1: not be that her husband will let her go. What
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Speaker 1: I counted on is come about, and praise be Allah
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Speaker 1: Almighty for thy reunion with thy wife. As for my son,
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Speaker 1: I have sought him another woman in marriage, and have
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Speaker 1: married him to her. These banquets and rejoicings are for
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Speaker 1: his wedding, and to night I bring him to his bride.
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Speaker 1: So here is the key of the chamber where thy
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Speaker 1: wife is. Take it and open the door, and go
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Speaker 1: in to her and her handmaid, and be bosom with her.
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Speaker 1: There shall be brought you meat and drink. And thou
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Speaker 1: shalt not come down from her till thou have had
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Speaker 1: thy fill with her. Cried Obaid may Allah requite thee
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Speaker 1: for me with all good O, my lord, and taking
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Speaker 1: the key, went up, rejoicing. The other thought his words
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Speaker 1: had pleased him, and that he consented there too. So
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Speaker 1: he took the sword, and following him unseen, stood to
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Speaker 1: a spy which should happen between him and his wife.
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Speaker 1: This is how it fared with the merchant abd Allaman.
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Speaker 1: But as for the jeweler, when he came to the
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Speaker 1: chamber door, he heard his wife weeping with sore, weeping
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Speaker 1: for that Kamar al Zaman had married another than her,
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Speaker 1: and the handmaid saying to her, O, my lady, how
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Speaker 1: often have I warned thee and said, thou wilt get
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Speaker 1: no good of this youth, So do thou leave his company?
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Speaker 1: But thou heededst not my words, and spoilest thy husband
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Speaker 1: of all his goods, and gavest them to him, after
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Speaker 1: the which thou forsooketh thy place of thine fondness and
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Speaker 1: infatuation for him, and camest with him to this country.
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Speaker 1: And now he has cast thee out from his thought
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Speaker 1: and married another, and have made the issue of thy
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Speaker 1: foolish fancy for him to be Durham's file cried Halima.
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Speaker 1: He's silent, oh, accursed, though he be married to another.
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Speaker 1: Yet some day needs must I occur to his thought.
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Speaker 1: I cannot forget the nights I have spent in his company.
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Speaker 1: And in any case, I console myself with his saying,
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Speaker 1: who said, O, my lords, shall he to your mind
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Speaker 1: occur who recurs to you only son's other mate, Grand heaven,
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Speaker 1: You ne'er shall forget his state? Who for state? If
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Speaker 1: you forgot own estate? It cannot be. But he will
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Speaker 1: bethink him of my affect and converse and ask for me.
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Speaker 1: Wherefore I will not turn from loving him, nor change
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Speaker 1: from passion for him, though I perish in prison, for
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Speaker 1: he is my love and my leech, and my reliance
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Speaker 1: is on him, that he will yet return to me
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Speaker 1: and deal fondly with me. When the jeweler heard his
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Speaker 1: wife's words, he went in to her and said to her, oh, traitress,
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Speaker 1: thy hope in him is as the hope of iblis
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Speaker 1: in heaven. All these vices were in THEE, and I
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Speaker 1: knew not thereof, For had I been aware of one
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Speaker 1: single vice, I had not kept THEE with me an hour.
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Speaker 1: But now I am certified of this, and THEE it
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Speaker 1: behooveth me to do THEE guy, although they put me
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Speaker 1: to death for THEE, O traitress. And he clutched her
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Speaker 1: with both hands and repeated these two cutlets, O fair
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Speaker 1: one's forth, ye cast my faithful love, But sin nor
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Speaker 1: had ye aught regard for right? How long I fondly
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Speaker 1: clung to you. But now my love is loathing, and
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Speaker 1: I hate your sight. Then he pressed hardly upon her
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Speaker 1: windpipe and break her neck, whereupon her handmaid cried out,
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Speaker 1: alas my mistress said he, Oh, harlot, tis thou who
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Speaker 1: art to blame for all this, for that thou knewest
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Speaker 1: this evil inclination to be in her, and toldest me not.
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Speaker 1: Then he seized upon her and strangled her. All this
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Speaker 1: happened while Abd al Aman stood brand in hand behind
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Speaker 1: the door, is bying with his eyes and hearing with
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Speaker 1: his ears. Now, when o Bayd the jeweler had done this,
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Speaker 1: apprehension came upon him, and he feared the issue of
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Speaker 1: his affair, and said to himself, as soon as the
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Speaker 1: merchant learneth that I have killed them in his house,
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Speaker 1: he will surely slay me. Yet I beseech Allah that
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Speaker 1: he appointed the taking of my life to be while
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Speaker 1: I am in the true belief. And he abode bewildered
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Speaker 1: about his case and knew not what to do. But
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Speaker 1: as he was thus behold in, came Abd al Aman
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Speaker 1: from his lurking place without the door, and said to him,
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Speaker 1: no harm shall befall thee, for indeed thou deservest safety.
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Speaker 1: See the sword in my hand. Twas in my mind
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Speaker 1: to slay thee hadst thou made peace with her and
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Speaker 1: restored her to favor, and I would also have slain
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Speaker 1: her and to maid. But since thou hast done this deed,
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Speaker 1: Welcome to THEE, and again welcome, and I will reward
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Speaker 1: THEE by marrying THEE to my daughter Kamar Olzaman's sister.
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Speaker 1: Then he carried him down and sent for the woman
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Speaker 1: who washed the dead. Whereupon it was bruted abroad that
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Speaker 1: Kamar ol Zaman had brought with him two slave girls
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Speaker 1: from Bassorah, and that both had deceased. So the people
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Speaker 1: began to condole with him, saying, may thy head live
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Speaker 1: and may Allah compensate THEE. And they washed and shrouded
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Speaker 1: them and buried them, and none knew the truth of
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Speaker 1: the matter. Then Abd al Aman sent for the Shaikh
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Speaker 1: al Islam and all the notables, and said, oh, Shaikh,
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Speaker 1: draw up the contract of marriage between my daughter Khalkhab
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Speaker 1: al Salah. And master obayed the jeweler and set down
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Speaker 1: that her dowry hath been paid to me in full.
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Speaker 1: So he wrote out the contract, and Abd al Raman
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Speaker 1: gave the company to drink of sherbets, and they made
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Speaker 1: one wedding festival for the two brides, the daughter of
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Speaker 1: Shaikh al Islam and Kamar al Zaman's sister, and paraded
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Speaker 1: them in one litter one and the same night, after
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Speaker 1: which they carried Kamar al Zaman and obeyed in procession
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Speaker 1: together and brought them in to their brides. When the
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Speaker 1: jeweler went into Abd al Raman's daughter, he found her
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Speaker 1: handsomer than Halima and a thousandfold lovelier. So he took
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Speaker 1: her maidenhead, and on to morrow he went to the
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Speaker 1: Hamman with Kamar al Zaman. Then he abode with them
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Speaker 1: awhile in pleasants and joyants, after which he began to
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Speaker 1: yearn for his native land. So he went in to
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Speaker 1: Abd al Raman and said to him, Oh, uncle, I
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Speaker 1: long for my own country, for I have dare estates
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Speaker 1: and effects, which are left in charge of one of
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Speaker 1: my apprentices, and I am minded to journey thither that
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Speaker 1: I may sell my properties and return to THEE. So
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Speaker 1: wilt thou give me leave to go to my country
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Speaker 1: for that purpose? Answered the merchant, O, my son, I
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Speaker 1: give THEE leave to do this, And there be no
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Speaker 1: fault in THEE or blame to THEE for these words.
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Speaker 1: For love of motherland is a part of religion. And
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Speaker 1: he who hath not in his own country hath none
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Speaker 1: another folk's country. But haply and thou depart without thy wife,
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Speaker 1: and thou ar at once come to thy native place.
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Speaker 1: It may seem good to thee to settle there, and
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Speaker 1: thou wilt be perplexed between returning to thy wife and
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Speaker 1: sojourning in thine own home. So it were the writer
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Speaker 1: read that thou carry thy wife with thee and after
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Speaker 1: and thou desire to return to us, Return and welcome
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Speaker 1: to you both. For we are folk who know not divorce,
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Speaker 1: and no woman of us married twice, nor do we
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Speaker 1: lightly discard a man. Quoth abide Uncle. I fear me
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Speaker 1: thy daughter will not consent to journey with me to
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Speaker 1: my own country, replied abd allahman O, my son. We
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Speaker 1: have no women amongst us who gainsay their spouses, nor
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Speaker 1: know we a wife who is wroth with our man.
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Speaker 1: The jeweler cried, Allah, bless you and your women, and
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Speaker 1: going in to his wife, said to her, I am
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Speaker 1: minded to go to my country, sayest thou quoth she. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: my sire had the ordering of me whilst I was
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Speaker 1: a maid, and when I married the ordering all passed
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Speaker 1: into the hands of my lord and master. Nor will
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Speaker 1: I gainsay him quoth abide Allah bless thee and thy father,
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Speaker 1: and have mercy on the wound that bare thee and
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Speaker 1: the loins that begat thee. Then he cut his thongs
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Speaker 1: and applied himself to making ready for his journey. His
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Speaker 1: father in law gave him much good, and they took
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Speaker 1: leave each of the other, after which child Jeweler and
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Speaker 1: his wife journeyed on without ceasing, till they reached Bassorah,
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Speaker 1: where his kinsmen and comrades came out to meet him,
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Speaker 1: doubting not but that he had been in al Hijaz.
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Speaker 1: Some rejoiced at his return, whilst others were fixed, and
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Speaker 1: the folk said to one another, now will he streaten
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Speaker 1: us again every Friday as before, and we shall be
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Speaker 1: shut up in the mosques and houses, even to our
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Speaker 1: cats and their dogs. On such wise it fared with him.
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Speaker 1: But as regards the King of Bassorah, when he heard
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Speaker 1: of his return, he was wroth with him, and, sending
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Speaker 1: for him, upbraided him and said to him, why didst
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Speaker 1: thou depart without letting me know of thy departure? Was
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Speaker 1: I unable to give thee somewhat wherewith thou mightst have
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Speaker 1: secured theirself in thy pilgrimage to the holy House of Allah,
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Speaker 1: replied the jeweler, Pardon, O, my lord, by Allah, I
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Speaker 1: went not on the pilgrimage, but there hath befallen me
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Speaker 1: such and such things. Then he told him all that
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Speaker 1: had befallen him with his wife and with Abd al
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Speaker 1: Raman of Cairo, and how the merchant had given him
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Speaker 1: his daughter to wife, ending with these words, and I
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Speaker 1: have brought her to Bassorah, said the king. By the Lord,
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Speaker 1: did I not fear allahd the most High? I would
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Speaker 1: st lay thee and marry this noble lady after thy death.
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Speaker 1: Though I spent on her mints of money, because she
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Speaker 1: befeitathed none but kings. But Allah has appointed her of
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Speaker 1: thy portion, and may He bless thee in her so
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Speaker 1: looked at thou use her will. Then he bestowed largesse
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Speaker 1: on the jeweler, who went out from before him and
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Speaker 1: abode with his wife five years, after which he was
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Speaker 1: admitted to the mercy of the Almighty. Presently, the king
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Speaker 1: sought his widow in wedlock, but she refused, saying, O, King,
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Speaker 1: never among my kindred was a woman who married again
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Speaker 1: after her husband's death. Wherefore I will never take another husband,
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Speaker 1: nor will I marry thee no tho thou kill me.
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Speaker 1: Then he sent to her one who said, dost thou
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Speaker 1: seek to go to thy native land? And she answered, an,
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Speaker 1: thou do good? Thou shalt be requited therewith so he
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Speaker 1: collected for her O the Jeweler's wealth, and added unto
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Speaker 1: her of his own after the measure of his degree. Lastly,
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Speaker 1: he sent her with one of his viziers, a man
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Speaker 1: famous for goodness and piety, and an escort of five
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Speaker 1: hundred horse, who journeyed with her till they brought her
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Speaker 1: to her father, and in his home she abode without
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Speaker 1: marrying again, till she died night, and they died all. So,
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Speaker 1: if this woman would not consent to replace her dead
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Speaker 1: husband with a sultan, how shall she be compared with
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Speaker 1: one who replaced her husband whilst he was yet alive
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Speaker 1: with a youth of unknown extraction and condition, and especially
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Speaker 1: when this was in leude carriage, and not by way
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Speaker 1: of lawful marriage. So he who deemeth all woman alike,
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Speaker 1: there is no remedy for the disease of his insanity.
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Speaker 1: And glory be to him to whom belongeth the empire
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Speaker 1: of the scene and the unseen, and he is the
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Speaker 1: living who dieth not. And among the tales they tell
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Speaker 1: O auspicious king is one of Abdullah Binfazil and his brothers.
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Speaker 1: The Caliph Herun al Rashid was one day examining the
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Speaker 1: tributes of his various provinces and viceroyalties, when he observed
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Speaker 1: that the contributions of all the countries and regions had
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Speaker 1: come into the treasury, except that of Bassarah, which had
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Speaker 1: not arrived that year. So he held a divan because
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Speaker 1: of this, and said, hither to me with the Vizir Ja'afar.
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Speaker 1: And when they brought him into the presence, he thus
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Speaker 1: bespoke him. The tributes of all the provinces have come
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Speaker 1: into the treasury save that of Masurah. No part whereof
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Speaker 1: hath arrived. Ja'afar, replied, O, Commander of the faithful, belike,
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Speaker 1: there hath befallen the governor of Masuah, something that hath
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Speaker 1: diverted him from sending the tribute. Quoth the Caliph. The
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Speaker 1: time of the coming of the tribute was twenty days ago.
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Speaker 1: What then can be his excuse for that in this
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Speaker 1: time he hath neither sent it, nor sent to show
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Speaker 1: cause for not doing so, and quoth the Minister O
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Speaker 1: Commander of the faithful, if it pleased THEE, who will
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Speaker 1: send him a messenger rejoined the Caliph, send him Abu
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Speaker 1: Ishak al Mozili, the Boon Companion, and Ja'afar hearkening and
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Speaker 1: obedience to Allah and to THEE, O Prince of true believers.
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Speaker 1: Then he returned to his house, and summoning Abu, wrote
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Speaker 1: him a royal writ and said to him, go to
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Speaker 1: Abdullah bin Fasil, Viceroy of Bassarah, and see what had
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Speaker 1: diverted him from sending the tribute. If it be ready,
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Speaker 1: do th receive it from him in full, and bring
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Speaker 1: it to me in haste. For the Caliph had examined
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Speaker 1: the tributes of the provinces and findeth that they are
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Speaker 1: all come in except that of Bassarah. But and thou
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Speaker 1: see that it is not ready, and he make an
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Speaker 1: excuse to THEE. Bring him back with THEE, that he
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Speaker 1: may report his excuse to the Caliph with his own tongue.
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Speaker 1: Answered Abou Ishak, I hear a diobey, and taking with
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Speaker 1: him five thousand horse of Ja'afar's hosts, set out for Bassarah. Now,
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Speaker 1: when Abdullah bin Fazil heard of his approach, he went
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Speaker 1: out to meet him with his troops and let him
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Speaker 1: into the city and carried him to his palace, whilst
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Speaker 1: the escort in camp without the city walls, where he
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Speaker 1: appointed to them all whereof they did in need. So
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Speaker 1: Abu Isshak entered the audience chamber, and, sitting down on
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Speaker 1: the throne, seated the governor beside himself, whilst the notables
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Speaker 1: sat round him according to their several degrees. After salutation
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Speaker 1: with the Salam, Abdullah bin Fazil said to him, O,
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Speaker 1: my lord, is therefore thy coming to us any cause?
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Speaker 1: And said abou is shakh yes, I come to seek
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Speaker 1: the tribute for the Caliph enquireth of it, and the
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Speaker 1: time of his coming is gone by, rejoined Abdullah bin Fazil, Oh,
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Speaker 1: my Lord, would heaven thou hadst not wearied thyself nor
19:29
Speaker 1: taken upon thyself the hardships of the journey. For the
19:32
Speaker 1: tribute is ready in full tail and complete, and I
19:35
Speaker 1: purpose to dispatch it to morrow. But since thou art come,
19:39
Speaker 1: I will entrust it to THEE. After I have entertained
19:42
Speaker 1: THEE three days, and on the fourth day I will
19:44
Speaker 1: set the tribute between thine hands. But it behooveth us
19:48
Speaker 1: now to offer thee a present in part acquittal of
19:51
Speaker 1: thy kindness and the goodness of the commander of the faithful.
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Speaker 1: There is no harm in that, said abouieshakh So Abdullah
19:59
Speaker 1: bin Fazil dismissed the divan, and carrying him into a
20:02
Speaker 1: saloon that had not its match, theyide set a tray
20:05
Speaker 1: of food before him and his companions. They ate and
20:09
Speaker 1: drank and made merry and enjoyed themselves, after which the
20:13
Speaker 1: tray was removed, and there came coffee and sherbets. They
20:16
Speaker 1: sat conversing till a third part of the night was passed,
20:19
Speaker 1: when they spread for a bouieshacques bedding on an ivory
20:22
Speaker 1: couch inlaid with gold glittering chieni. So he lay down,
20:26
Speaker 1: and the viceroy lay down beside him on another couch.
20:29
Speaker 1: But wakefulness possessed a Boui shaq, and he fell to
20:32
Speaker 1: meditating on the meters of prosody and poetical composition. For
20:36
Speaker 1: that he was one of the primest of the caliph's
20:38
Speaker 1: boon companions, and he had a mighty fine fore arm
20:41
Speaker 1: in producing verses and pleasant stories, nor did he leave
20:45
Speaker 1: to lie awake in provising poetry till half the night
20:48
Speaker 1: was passed. Presently, behold Abdullah bin Fazil arose, and, girding
20:53
Speaker 1: his medal, opened a locker, whence he brought out a whip. Then,
20:57
Speaker 1: taking a lighted waxen taper, he went forth by the
21:00
Speaker 1: door of the saloon, and Shahrazade perceived the dawn of
21:04
Speaker 1: day and ceased sailing. Her permitted say end of night
21:09
Speaker 1: nine hundred and seventy eight