Pagina 730 di 1116

Then they carried them in, passing through a troop of eunuchs,

guardians of the Harim and of the ladies behind the curtain, till

they came to the post of the Eunuch in Chief[FN#563] who started

up from his slumbers and shouted to the damsel "What is in those

chests?" "They are full of wares for the Lady Zubaydah!" "Open

them, one by one, that I may see what is in them." "And wherefore

wouldst thou open them?" "Give me no words and exceed not in

talk! These chests must and shall be opened." So saying, he

sprang to his feet, and the first which they brought to him to

open was that wherein I was; and, when I felt his hands upon it,

my senses failed me and I bepissed myself in my funk, the water

running out of the box. Then said she to the Eunuch in Chief, "O

steward! thou wilt cause me to be killed and thyself too, for

thou hast damaged goods worth ten thousand dinars.