Page:Tales from the Arabic, Vol 2.djvu/139

 EL MELIK EZ ZAHIR RUKNEDDIN BIBERS EL BUNDUCDARI AND THE SIXTEEN OFFICERS OF POLICE.

There was once in the land [of Egypt and] the city of Cairo, [under the dynasty] of the Turks, a king of the valiant kings and the exceeding mighty Sultans, by name El Melik ez Zahir Rukneddin Bibers el Bunducdari. He was used to storm the Islamite strongholds and the fortresses of the Coast and the Nazarene citadels, and the governor of his [capital] city was just to the folk, all of them. Now El Melik ez Zahir was passionately fond of stories of the common folk and of that which men purposed and loved to see this with his eyes and hear their sayings with his ears, and it befell that he heard one night from one of his story-tellers that among women are those who are doughtier than men of valour