Thousand & One Nights: 125th Night: The Young Baghdad Man & Zubaida's Maid
One day the eunuch came to the young man's shop. The young man treated him cordially.
"What about your mistress?"
"She is pining with love for you."
"Who is she?"
"She is one of the waiting women who is in charge of the errands of Lady Subsida, the wife of the Caliph who brought her up. She told her lady about you and begged her to marry her to you. But lady Zubaida said, "I will not, till I see him. I have to see whether he is handsome and he is a match for you."
"I will take you to the palace," said the eunuch. If you succeed in entering without being seen you may win her in marriage, but if you are found out, you will lose your head.
"What do you say?" The young man asked, "I am ready to go with you."
He said, "As soon as night falls go to the mosque built by Lady Zubaida on the Tigris river." He went to the mosque, where he performed evening prayer and passed the night.
Before daybreak there came servants in a boat with some empty chests, which they placed in the mosque and left. One of them remained, and it was the eunuch. Soon the lady herself came. She greeted the young man, and wanted him to get into one chest. When the young man got into it she locked it. Then the eunuchs with all sorts of goods and put them in the chests, and locked them. These chests were then carried into the boat. The boat headed downstream to the palace of Zubaida. The young man sat inside the chest with fear and anxiety. The chests were carried to the harem.
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