his palms and prancing to right and left.  Hereupon the Emir laughed consumedly, he and his wife, and they signed and signalled each to other deriding the judicial dance, and the Kazi ceased not skipping until he fell to the floor for his fatigue.  Hereupon the man said to him, “Basta!  Now tell us thy tale that we may rejoice thereat; then do thou rise up and go about thy business.”  “Hearkening and obedience,” said the Judge and forthright he began to relate the adventure of

The Tailor and the Lady and the Captain.[FN#364]

It is related that a Tailor was sitting in his shop facing a tall house tenanted by a Y£zb shi, and this man had a wife who was unique for beauty and loveliness.  Now one day of the days as she looked out at the latticed window the Snip espied her and was distraught by her comeliness and seemlihead.  So he became engrossed by love of her and remained all day a-gazing at the casement disturbed and perturbed, and as often as she approached the window and peered out therefrom, he would stare at her and say to her, “O my lady and O core of my heart, good morning to thee; and do thou have mercy upon one sore affected by his affection to thee; one whose eyes sleep not by night for thy fair sake.”  “This pimp be Jinn-mad!” quoth the Captain’s wife, “and as often as I look out at the window he dareth bespeak me:  haply the folk shall say, ‘Indeed she must needs be his mistress.’” But the Tailor persevered in this proceeding for a while of days until the lady was offended thereby and said in her mind, “Wall hi, there is no help but that I devise for him a device which shall make unlawful to him this his staring and casting sheep’s eyes at my casement; nay more, I will work for ousting him from his shop.”  So one day of the days when the Yuzbashi went from home, his wife arose and adorned and beautified herself, and donning the bestest of what dresses and decorations she had, despatched one of her slave-girls to the Tailor instructing her to say to him, “My lady salameth to thee and biddeth thee come and drink coffee with her.”  The handmaiden went to his shop and delivered the message; and he, when hearing these words,[FN#365] waxed bewildered of wits and rose up quivering in his clothes;—­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 King suffer me to survive?” Now when it was the next night and that was

The Seven Hundred and Forty-third Night,