Pagina 365 de 1116

The King read these lines with wonder and delight and said to his

Eunuch,[FN#247] "O Mukbil, go to thy mistress, Sitt

al-Husn,[FN#248] and say her, 'Come, speak the King who biddeth

thee hither to take thy solace in seeing this right wondrous

ape!"' So the Eunuch went out and presently returned with the

lady who, when she saw me veiled her face and said, "O my father!

hast thou lost all sense of honour? How cometh it thou art

pleased to send for me and show me to strange men?" "O Sitt

al-Husn," said he, "no man is here save this little foot page and

the Eunuch who reared thee and I, thy father.