Arabian Nights: 262nd Night: Jullanar of the Sea - 33

The following night Shahrazad said:

The old man said to king Badr, "She may hurt even her relatives, but she will not dare hurt me.  Have you not seen how her troops and retinue stood at my shop and saluted me?  By God, son, this infidel refuses to salute even the kings, but whenever she passes by my shop, she stops to salute me and speak with me, as you have seen and heard."

Next morning, queen Lab came with her girls, Mamluks and attendants who were armed with swords and spears, stopped at the door of the shop and saluted the old man.  The old man kissed the ground before her, and returned the salute.

The queen said to him, "Father, fulfill your pledge at once." 

The old man replied, "Swear to me again that you will never harm him, enchant him, or do to him anything he abhors."  She swore again by her faith and unveiled a face like the moon, and said, "Father, how you procrastinate in giving me your handsome nephew!  Am I not more beautiful than he?"  When king Badr saw her beauty, he was bewitched and said to himself, "By God, she is more beautiful than Jauhara.  If she married me, I will leave my kingdom and stay with her, without returning to my mother; if not I will at least enjoy her in bed for forty days and nights, and I do not care if she enchants me or kill me.  By God, a single night with her is worth a lifetime."

The old man topk king Badr by hand, and said to her, "Receive from me my nephew, and return to me as you receive him.  Do not harm him or take him away from me." 

She swore for a third time that she would not harm him or enchant him; then she ordered for Badr a handsome saddled horse, bedecked 
with gold trappings, and gave the old man a thousand dinars.

But morning overtook and Shahrazad lapsed into silence.



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