And indeed Ma'aruf had not given her shelter by reason of any
praiseworthy quality in her, but he dealt with her thus
generously only of desire for the approval of Allah Almighty.--
Here Dunyazad interrupted her sister Shahrazad, saying, "How
winsome are these words of thine which win hold of the heart more
forcibly than enchanters' eyne; and how beautiful are these
wondrous books thou hast cited and the marvellous and singular
tales thou hast recited!" Quoth Shahrazad, "And where is all this
compared with what I shall relate to thee on the coming night, an
I live and the King deign spare my days?" So when morning
morrowed and the day brake in its sheen and shone, the King arose
from his couch with breast broadened and in high expectation for
the rest of the tale and saying, "By Allah, I will not slay her
till I hear the last of her story;" repaired to his Durbar while
the Wazir, as was his wont, presented himself at the Palace,
shroud under arm. Shahriyar tarried abroad all that day, bidding
and forbidding between man and man; after which he returned to
his Harim and, according to his custom went in to his wife
Shahrazad.[FN#102]

When it was the Thousand and First Night,

Dunyazad said to her sister, "Do thou finish for us the History
of Ma'aruf!" She replied, "With love and goodly gree, an my lord
deign permit me recount it." Quoth the King, "I permit thee; for
that I am fain of hearing it." So she said:--It hath reached me,
O auspicious King, that Ma'aruf would have naught to do with his
wife by way of conjugal duty. Now when she saw that he held aloof
from her bed and occupied himself with other women, she hated him