Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/54

40 her might be increased. So he called to the slave who guarded him and said, 'Tell me of the lady who slept with me last night: how came she, and who brought her?'

The slave replied, 'O Prince, there was no lady; how could any lady get in while I slept all night across the doorway, and had the key?'

This answer so infuriated the Prince that he fetched the slave a buffet which knocked him over; then tying him to the well rope he let him down into the well, though it was the middle of winter; and this he continued to do, now up, now down, saying as he did so, 'When thou hast told me the truth I will let thee go.'

After a while the unfortunate slave, at the last gasp for wretchedness, cried, 'O Prince, restore to me my life and I will tell thee all.'

So Camaralzaman drew him up and laid him to drain upon the floor.

Then the eunuch, with shiverings and chatter-