of waiting, they went up to the door and smote upon it a heavy
blow and a violent, so that they came nigh to break the wooden
bolt. Then one of them entered and was absent a long while, but
found naught; so he returned to his comrades and said to them,
"This is the door of a dark passage, leading to such a
thoroughfare; and indeed she laughed at you and left you and went
away.''[FN#79] When they heard his words, they returned to the
Emir and acquainted him with the case, whereby he knew that the
old woman was a cunning craft-mistress and that she had mocked at
them and cozened them and put a cheat on them, to save herself.
Witness, then, the wiles of this woman and that which she
contrived of guile, for all her lack of foresight in presenting
herself a second time to the draper and not suspecting that his
conduct was but a sleight; yet, when she found herself hard upon
calamity, she straightway devised a device for her deliverance.
When the company heard the seventh constable's story, they were
moved to mirth galore, than which naught could be more; and
Al-Malik al Zahir Bibars rejoiced in that which he heard and
said, "Verily, there betide things in this world wherefrom kings
are shut out, by reason of their exalted degree!" Then came
forward another person from amongst the company and said, "There
hath reached me through one of my friends a similar story bearing
on the malice of women and their wiles, and it is more wondrous
and marvellous, more diverting and more delectable than all that
hath been told to you." Quoth the company there present, "Tell us
thy tale and expound it unto us, so we may see that which it hath
of extraordinary." And he began to relate