moreover she would give them all that sufficed them. The woman
was far gone with child and the other charged her saying, "As
soon as 'tis thy time to be delivered, do thou come to me for I
have a mind to play a prank upon this Kazi who feareth not Allah
and who, whenever he taketh to himself a wife, first depriveth
her of food till she is well nigh famished, then shreddeth off
her nose under false pretences and putteth her away taking all
her belongings and giving naught of dower either the precedent or
the contingent." And the poor woman replied, "To hear is to
obey." Then the wife persisted in her lavish expenditure till her
neighbour came to her already overtaken by birth-pains, and these
lasted but a little while when she was brought to bed of a boy.
Hereupon the Kazi's wife arose and prepared a savoury dish called
a Baysarah,[FN#212] the base of which is composed of beans and
gravied mallows[FN#213] seasoned with onions and garlic. It was
noon when her husband came in and she served up the dish; and he
being anhungered ate of it and ate greedily and at supper time he
did likewise. But he was not accustomed to a Baysarah, so as soon
as night came on his paunch began to swell; the wind bellowed in
his bowels; his stress was such that he could not be more
distressed and he roared out in his agony. Herewith his wife ran
in and cried to him, "No harm shall befal thee, O my lord!" and
so saying she passed her hand over his stomach and presently
exclaimed "Extolled be He, O my lord; verily thou art pregnant
and a babe is in thy belly."--And Shahrazad was surprised by the
dawn of day and fell silent and ceased to say her permitted say.
Then quoth her sister Dunyazad, "How sweet is thy story, O sister
mine, and how enjoyable and delectable!" Quoth she, "And where is
this compared with that I would relate to you on the coming night
an the Sovran suffer me to survive?" Now when it was the next