Page:Sinbad the sailor & other stories from the Arabian nights.djvu/305

 Khalifeh commanded him to be taken to the Palace and placed upon the royal couch and surrounded by slave girls to attend his waking. Towards morning Er-Rashid, from his place of concealment, commanded one the slave girls to strike the cords of her lute above the sleeper's head, so that Abu-I-Hasan awoke to the strains of musk. "Mother! Mother!" he called out, but the slave girls answered him, "O Prince of the Faithful! we are here to do thy bidding." At this he gazed about him and immediately threw up his hands and called on Allah to deliver him from the wicked enchantment which the Evil One had a second time imposed upon him. Then he turned to a memluk and bade him bite his ear so that he might know whether or no he was in the flesh, and awake. The memluk at first refused to bite the ear of the Prince of the Faithful, whereupon Abu-I-Hasan would have arisen and hewn off his head, had he not obeyed and bitten the ear till his teeth met. A loud shriek from Abu-I-Hasan brought Er-Rashid to his knees with suppressed laughter. Then Abu-I-Hasan rose in wrath and cursed those who stood around him, calling upon their Master by the most holy passages of the Koran to break the spell which held him in so vile a thrall. At this Er-Rashid, unable to endure it further, called out from his hiding-place, "O Abu-I-Hasan! this is more than I can bear." And he came forth laughing.

Abu-I-Hasan at once recognised him as Er-Rashid, the Khalifeh, and made obeisance to him, praying that he might live for ever. "Rise, Abu-I-Hasan, the Wag!" commanded the Khalifeh then; "and the peace of Allah be with thee." With his own hands Er-Rashid then clothed him in rich apparel; after which he bestowed upon him a thousand gold 213