premises as before and that he come hither without his eyes being
bandaged with the kerchief." She obeyed and said, "The
commandments of our lord the Sultan shall be carried out." Such
was the history of that youth whom the Sultan heard reading the
Koran in the Maristan, the public madhouse: but as regards the
second Lunatic who sat listening, the Sultan asked him, "And
thou, the other, what be thy tale?" So he began to relate the




Story of the Second Lunatic.[FN#102]



"O my lord," quoth the young man, "my case is marvellous, and
haply thou wilt desire me to relate it in order continuous;" and
quoth the Sultan, "Let me hear it."--And Shahrazad perceived 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 Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth 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