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Thus did the two Kings, Shahryar and Shah Zaman abide in perfect harmony, each ruling the kingdom a day in turn. And the people rejoiced, giving thanks that affliction had been lifted from the virgins among them and that King Shahryar and Shah Zaman were freed from the cark and care of faithless wives. All who lived within the realm prospered an hundredfold, for there was no man whose olive groves were not dark with fruit, whose flocks and herds flourished not, and whose waters ran not cool and pure like the streams of paradise. For three years did feast and bounty thus continue, but no man, be he lord or lazar, can escape the fate that is his alone, and only Allah is All-knowing.
Now when one day, as Scheherazade and Dunyazade disported themselves in the Hammam baths, they chanced to talk of the noble brothers the twain had wed. Each boasted in turn of the lofty one who was her King, and each regaled the other with talk of the mighty works her master wrought among the scented cushions of the bedchamber. And in the telling each o'erstepped the bounds of truth, and the two sisters, Scheherazade and Dunyazade, were seized with longing to taste the delights the other spoke so fondly of.
And Scheherazade, the elder, summoned up her wit and, bidding the Hammam attendants to withdraw, hatched a plot with Dunyazade, whereby the two might know whereof the other spoke. All was soon contrived, and the queens repaired to their quarters, laughing girlishly at the cunning of their craft.
So it was that not a fortnight thereafter, there appeared before King Shahryar's court, a figure heavy-robed and veiled in the manner of an old woman, who made plain her wish to speak with her sovereign. Forthwith she was admitted to the throne and, with all eyes upon her, spoke in a faltering voice:
"O great and puissant King, I come in supplication before my lord with a plea I would reserve for thine ear alone."
"What matter is this," replied the King, "that my grandees and wazirs are not fit to hear of?"
"O Commander of the Faithful," said the woman, "it is a matter of little note to one so august as thou, but signifies the everlasting joy of thy maidservant. I beseech three, therefore, O King, to hear my plea and to vouchsafe to thy maidservant thy sole attention."
At this the King commanded the company to withdraw and, turning to the old woman, bade her draw near and speak. When the woman saw that she was alone with the King, she threw off her outer garments and lo, it was a maiden, graceful as a gazelle, who stood before the King in naught but films of gauze. Her beauty was like the full moon, her belly like a sheaf of wheat, and her breasts a temptation to behold, but her veil she kept upon her and the King knew her not.
When the King beheld the woman's loveliness, he well nigh swooned away from amorous desire and in a voice like honey said to her, "Speak, my child. Whatsoever thy heart desirest of me shall be thine."
"Know, O Monarch of the Firmament,' replied the woman, "that I am the daughter of thy humblest but most devoted subject. Before his death there was none like him to keep thy law and to glorify thy name. But the shades o'ertook him when I was but a child, and he was gathered to his forefathers. I then became the ward of my father's brother, a whoreson knave of lowest sort who delights in nothing more than guile and mischievousness.
"This uncle, finding me comely, hast resolved to wed me to a wealthy man, a trader in ivory, incense and precious stones, and hopes thereby to fatten his coffers with my bride price. But this man, this trader, is a greasy lout with nose flabby like an eggplant, face like a cobbler's apron and lips like camels kidneys, loose and pendulous. In brief, a terror and a monster who hath no more charm than a dung beetle. In the temple of my heart there dwelleth instead a winsome youth of high birth who, though with gifts and faculties like unto a shining star, is a man of little wealth."
At this the King's brow knotted like a rope and he said unto the woman, "thou must know that no woman can wed without consent. This is the law of the Prophet - May his name be praised! - which no man, be he King or Emir, dare revoke."
"O noble King," said the woman, swaying gently to and fro with undulation like as to seduce a saint, "thy maidservant knows the law and all it signifies. It is not the law that I would change but my uncle's crass intent. It did once betide, O King, when I confessed my love for the youth and my disdain for the lout, that my uncle waxed wroth and rage was like to strangle him. My flesh, said he, were fit for a King's couch, and 'twere hopeless waste to squander it upon the penniless. Whereupon I seized upon his words and asked if he might free me from his will if the King, our lord, were to look upon me with favor.
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