he obeyed her and went forth till he reached the palace where he
found the builders at work and the Sultan and the Wazir sitting
in a Kiosk hard by overseeing the masons and the workmen; --And
Shahrazad was surprised by the dawn of day and fell silent and
ceased saying her permitted say. Then quoth her sister Dunyazad,
"How sweet and tasteful is thy tale, O sister mine, and 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 night and that was

The Four Hundred and Eighth Night,

Dunyazad said to her, "Allah upon thee, O my sister, an thou be
other than sleepy, finish for us thy tale that we may cut short
the watching of this our latter night!" She replied, "With love
and good will!" It hath reached me, O auspicious King, the
director, the right-guiding, lord of the rede which is benefiting
and of deed fair-seeming and worthy celebrating, that when the
Bhang-eater joined the masons he saw the Sultan and Wazir
overseeing them; and, as soon as the King sighted him, he opened
his breast to him and said, "O man, wilt thou also do work?" and
said the other, "Yes." So he bade him labour with the builders
and he continued toiling till hard upon noon-tide, at which time
he remembered his slave-girl and forthright he bowed his head
upon his bosom-pocket and he sniffed thereat. The Wazir saw him
so doing and asked him, "What is the meaning of thy sniffing at
what is in thy poke?" and he answered him, "No matter." However
the Minister espied him a second time occupied in like guise and
quoth he to the Sultan, "Look, O King of the Age, at yon labourer
who is hiding something in his pocket and smelling thereat."