Pagina 388 de 1116

When the ships were close under its lea they opened and the nails

flew out and all the iron in them sought the Magnet Mountain and

clove to it like a network; so that by the end of the day we were

all struggling in the waves round about the mountain. Some of us

were saved, but more were drowned and even those who had escaped

knew not one another, so stupefied were they by the beating of

the billows and the raving of the winds. As for me, O my lady,

Allah (be His name exalted!) preserved my life that I might

suffer whatso He willed to me of hardship, misfortune and

calamity; for I scrambled upon a plank from one of the ships, and

the wind and waters threw it at the feet of the Mountain. There I

found a practicable path leading by steps carven out of the rock

to the summit, and I called on the name of Allah

Almighty"[FN#259]-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and

ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Fifteenth Night,