and, setting down the lantern, dug between four tombs a hole as
long as the chest and of the same breadth. Kafur plied the spade
and Sawab removed the earth by baskets full till they reached the
depth of the stature of a man;[FN#104] when they laid the chest
in the hole and threw back the earth over it: then they went
forth and shutting the door disappeared from Ghanim's eyes. When
all was quiet and he felt sure that he was left alone in the
place, his thought was busied about what the chest contained and
he said to himself, "Would that I knew the contents of that box!"
However, he waited till day broke, when morning shone and showed
her sheen: whereupon he came down from the date tree and scooped
away the earth with his hands, till the box was laid bare and
disengaged from the ground. Then he took a large stone and
hammered at the lock till he broke it and, opening the lid,
behold a young lady, a model of beauty and loveliness, clad in
the richest of garments and jewels of gold and such necklaces of
precious stones that, were the Sultan's country evened with them,
it would not pay their price. She had been drugged with Bhang,
but her bosom, rising and falling, showed that her breath had not
departed. When Ghanim saw her, he knew that some one had played
her false and hocussed her; so he pulled her out of the chest and
laid her on the ground with her face upwards. As soon as she
smelt the breeze and the air entered her nostrils, mouth and
lungs, she sneezed and choked and coughed; when there fell from
out her throat a pill of Cretan Bhang, had an elephant smelt it
he would have slept from night to night. Then she opened her eyes
and glancing around said, in sweet voice and gracious words, "Woe
to thee O wind! there is naught in thee to satisfy the thirsty,
nor aught to gratify one whose thirst is satisfied! Where is Zhar
al-Bostan?" But no one answered her, so she turned her and cried