and displaying her wrists to me she said, “Put them on me.”  I did so and presently she asked me, “What may be the price of all these?” when I exclaimed, “O my lady, accept them from me in free gift;” and this was of the excess of my love to her, O King of the Age, and my being wholly absorbed in her.  Then quoth I to her, “O my lady, whose daughter art thou?” and quoth she, “I am the daughter of the Shaykh al-Islam."[FN#105] I replied, “My wish is to ask thee in marriage of thy father,” and she rejoined, “’Tis well:  but, O youth, I would have thee know that when thou askest me from my sire he will say, ’I have but one daughter and she is a cripple and deformed even as Satih was.[FN#106] Do thou, however, make answer that thou art contented to accept her and if he offer any remonstrance cry, ‘I’m content, content!’” I then enquired, “When shall that be?” and she replied, “Tomorrow about undurn hour[FN#107] come to our house and thou wilt find my sire, the Shaykh al-Islam, sitting with his companions and intimates.  Then ask me to wife.”  So we agreed upon this counsel and on the next day, O our lord the Sultan, I went with several of my comrades and we repaired, I and they, to the house of the Shaykh al-Islam, whom I found sitting with sundry Grandees about him.  We made our salams which they returned and they welcomed us and all entered into friendly and familiar conversation.  When it was time for the noon-meal the tablecloth[FN#108] was spread and they invited us to join them, so we dined with them and after dinner drank coffee.  I then stood up saying, “O my lord, I am come hither to sue and solicit thee for the lady concealed and the pearl unrevealed, thy daughter.”  But when the Shaykh al-Islam heard from me these words he bowed his head for awhile groundwards—­And Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say.  Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, “How sweet is thy story, O sister mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!” Quoth she, “And where is this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night, an the Sovran suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth Night,

Dunyazad said to her, “Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short the watching of this our latter night!” She replied, “With love and good will!” It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting and of deeds fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that the youth resumed:—­Now when the Shaykh al-Islam heard from me those words he bowed his brow groundwards for a while in deep thought concerning the case of his daughter who was a cripple and wondrously deformed.  For the damsel who had told me of her had played me a trick and served me a sleight, I all the time knowing nothing about her guile.  Presently he raised his head and said to