and presently he asked her, "And wherein hath the Caliph done
thee an injury?" She replied, "And what hath the Caliph left us
of livelihood and so forth when he marauded our mansion and
seized all our seisins? Even this hall was part of the plunder
and they laid it waste after taking from it all they could of
marble and joinery and what-not; and they left us paupers, as
thou sawest, without aught wherewith to veil us and naught to
eat. So had it not been that Almighty Allah favoured us with
thyself, O Robber, we had been of the destroyed by famine and so
forth." "And wherefore did the Caliph plunder you?" asked he,
"and what was the cause of his so doing?" She answered,[FN#173]
"My son was a Chamberlain of the Commander of the Faithful, and
one day as he was sitting in this our home two women asked him
for a draught of water which he gave to them. Presently the elder
brought him a porcelain charger full of pancakes with the tidings
that it had been sent as a return gift from the young lady her
companion who had drunk from his hand; and he replied, 'Set it
down and wend thy ways,' which she did. Presently as my son sat
outside his door, the Watchman came up to offer blessings on the
occasion of the Greater Festival and he gave him the charger and
the man fared forth; but ere an hour had sped, folk came who
marauded our mansion, and seizing my son, carried him before the
Caliph, who demanded of him how the charger had come to his
hands. He told him what I have told thee, and the Commander of
the Faithful asked him, 'Say me sawest thou aught of the charms
of the young lady?' Now my son had on his lips to say No, but his
tongue foreran him and he stammered out, 'Yes, I espied her
face,' without really having seen her at all, for that when
drinking she had turned to the wall. The Caliph hearing this
hapless reply summoned the lady and bade smite both their necks,