Pagina 437 van 1116

Speak ye therefore before him the truth and the whole truth!"

When the ladies heard Ja afar's words touching the Commander of

the Faithful, the eldest came forward and said, "O Prince of True

Believers, my story is one which, were it graven with

needle-gravers upon the eye corners were a warner for whoso would

be warned and an example for whoso can take profit from

example."-And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to

say her permitted say.

When it was the Seventeenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that she stood

forth before the Commander of the Faithful and began to tell

The Eldest Lady's Tale.