calf, saying, "If Almighty Allah created thee a calf, remain so
shaped, and change not; but if thou be enchanted, return to thy
whilom form, by command of Allah Most Highest!" and lo! he
trembled and became a man. Then I fell on his neck and said,
"Allah upon thee, tell me all that the daughter of my uncle did
by thee and by thy mother." And when he told me what had come to
pass between them I said, " O my son, Allah favoured thee with
one to restore thee, and thy right hath returned to thee." Then,
O Jinni, I married the herdsman's daughter to him, and she
transformed my wife into this gazelle, saying:--Her shape is a
comely and by no means loathsome. After this she abode with us
night and day, day and night, till the Almighty took her to
Himself. When she deceased, my son fared forth to the cities of
Hind, even to the city of this man who hath done to thee what
hath been done;[FN#51] and I also took this gazelle (my cousin)
and wandered with her from town to town seeking tidings of my
son, till Destiny drove me to this place where I saw the merchant
sitting in tears. Such is my tale! Quoth the Jinni, "This story
is indeed strange, and therefore I grant thee the third part of
his blood." There upon the second old man, who owned the two
greyhounds, came up and said, " O Jinni, if I recount to thee
what befel me from my brothers, these two hounds, and thou see
that it is a tale even more wondrous and marvellous than what
thou hast heard, wilt thou grant to me also the third of this
man's blood?" Replied the Jinni, "Thou hast my word for it, if
thine adventures be more marvellous and wondrous." Thereupon he
thus began