Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/183

163 more till this morning, when we were summoned to appear before thee; and this is our story.’ The Khalif wondered at her story, and ordered it and those of her sister and the Calenders to be recorded in the archives of his reign and laid up in the royal treasury. Then he said to the eldest lady, ‘Knowst thou where to find the Afriteh who enchanted thy sisters?’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered she, ‘she gave me some of her hair, saying, “When thou wouldst see me, burn one or two of these hairs, and I will be with thee presently, though I be behind the mountain Caf.”’ Quoth the Khalif, ‘Bring me the hair.’ So she fetched it and he threw the whole lock into the fire, whereupon the palace shook and they heard a rumbling sound of thunder, and presently the Jinniyeh appeared and saluted the Khalif, saying, ‘Peace be upon thee, O vicar of God!’ ‘And on thee be peace,’ answered he, ‘and the mercy of God and His blessing!’ Quoth she, ‘Know that this lady did me a service for which I cannot enough requite her, in that she saved me from death and slew my enemy. Now I had seen how her sisters dealt with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful, if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.’ ‘Release them,’ said the Khalif; ‘and after we will proceed to look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ replied she, ‘I will release them forthwith and bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.’ So saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the