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As he was on the road he suddenly caught sight of a large and

handsome mansion, with a detached building wide and lofty at the

entrance, where sat sundry eunuchs bidding and

forbidding.[FN#684] My brother enquired of one of those idling

there and he replied "The palace belongs to a scion of the

Barmaki house;" so he stepped up to the door keepers and asked an

alms of them "Enter," said they, "by the great gate and thou

shalt get what thou seekest from the Wazir our master."

Accordingly he went in and, passing through the outer entrance,

walked on a while and presently came to a mansion of the utmost

beauty and elegance, paved with marble, hung with curtains and

having in the midst of it a flower garden whose like he had never

seen.[FN#685] My brother stood awhile as one bewildered not

knowing whither to turn his steps; then, seeing the farther end

of the sitting chamber tenanted, he walked up to it and there

found a man of handsome presence and comely beard.