Page:Sinbad the sailor & other stories from the Arabian nights.djvu/308

 part of their jest. Nuzhat-el-Fuad was speedily disposed according to the first rites of the dead, and Abu-I-Hasan fell to tearing his garments and setting his turban awry, and practising postures of grief. Then he set forth to the Palace, plucking his beard and moaning as he ran. When he arrived there the Khalifeh was in the judgment hall, but Abu-I-Hasan was given immediate audience because of his haste and despair. "What ails thee?" said the Khalifeh, regarding Abu-I-Hasan with dismay, for he was beating his breast and moaning in agony of mind. "Alas! O Prince of the Faithful! Alas! that thy boon companion had ever been born!" At which outburst of grief the Khalifeh took him gently and sought to learn the cause of such overwhelming woe. At length, Abu-I-Hasan told him. Nuzhat-el-Fuad, the half of his life, was dead! "Now, by Allah!" said the Khalifeh, "there is no god but Allah!" And he smote his palms together and raised his eyes to heaven. He condoled with the bereaved man and bade him submit to the will of Allah. It was Abu-I-Hasan's plain duty to do this—especially as he, the Khalifeh, would send him a far fairer woman than the one he had lost. Then he bestowed on Abu-I-Hasan a hundred pieces of gold and a piece of fine silk, and bade him prepare the corpse for burial in a manner befitting one so dear.

Full of suppressed joy, Abu-I-Hasan took the guerdon and hastened back to his house, where he found Nuzhat-el-Fuad ready to dance in her turn. They rejoiced together and presently added the gold pieces and the silk to those already laid by.

Now, the Khalifeh, as soon as he could dismiss his Council, hurried with Mesrur, his executioner, to Zubeydeh to condole with her on the loss of Nuzhat-el-Fuad. But

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