Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/120

102 me, and my grief and anxiety left me. We sat carousing till nightfall, and I passed the night with her, never knew I such a night. On the morrow, delight succeeded delight till the middle of the day, when I drank wine, till I lost my senses and rose, staggering from side to side, and said to her, “Come, O fair one! I will carry thee up from under the earth and rid thee of this genie.” She laughed and replied, “Be content and hold thy peace. One day in every ten is the genie’s, and the other nine shall be thine.” Quoth I (and indeed drunkenness had got the better of me), “This very moment will I break the alcove, on which is graven the talisman, and summon the Afrit hither, that I may kill him, for I am used to kill Afrits ten at a time.” When she heard this, she conjured me by Allah to refrain and repeated the following verses:

And also these:

I paid no heed to her words, but kicked the alcove with all my might, and immediately the place grew dark, it thundered and lightened, the earth trembled and the world was wrapped in gloom. When I saw this, the fumes of the wine left my head and I said to the lady, “What is the matter?” “The Afrit is upon us,” answered she. “Did I not warn thee of this! By Allah, thou hast ruined me! But fly for thy life and return whence thou camest.” So I ascended the stair, but, in the excess of my fear I forgot my sandals and hatchet. When I had mounted two steps, I turned to look, and behold, the ground clove in sunder and out came an Afrit of hideous aspect, who said to the lady, “What is this commotion with which