Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 1.djvu/416

386 and precious stones and rarities and what else was light of carriage and great of value. When she saw Jaafer, she rose and kissing the earth before him, said, ‘O my lord, the pen hath written from of old that which God hath decreed.’ ‘By Allah, O my lady,’ rejoined Jaafer, ‘I am commanded to seize Ghanim ben Eyoub.’ ‘O my lord,’ replied she, ‘he made ready merchandise and set out therewith for Damascus and I know nothing more of him; but I desire thee to take charge of this chest and deliver it to me in the palace of the Commander of the Faithful.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ said Jaafer, and bade his men carry the chest to the palace, together with Cout el Culoub, commanding them to use her with honour and consideration. And they did his bidding, after they had plundered Ghanim’s house. Then Jaafer went in to the Khalif and told him what had happened, and he bade lodge Cout el Culoub in a dark chamber and appointed an old woman to serve her, thinking no otherwise than that Ghanim had certainly debauched her and lain with her. Then he wrote a letter to the Amir Mohammed ben Suleiman ez Zeini, the viceroy of Damascus, to the following purport, ‘As soon as this letter reaches thee, lay hands on Ghanim ben Eyoub and send him to me.’ When the letter came to the viceroy, he kissed it and laid it on his head, then caused proclamation to be made in the streets of Damascus, ‘Whoso is minded to plunder, let him betake himself to the house of Ghanim ben Eyoub!’ So they repaired to the house, where they found that Ghanim’s mother and sister had made him a tomb midmost the house and sat by it, weeping for him, whereupon they seized them, without telling them the cause, and carried them before the Sultan, after having plundered the house. The viceroy questioned them of Ghanim, and they replied, ‘This year or