Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 4.djvu/97

73 jest with him awhile, ere I make myself known to him.’ Then said she to him, ‘O Ali, hast thou been to the bath?’ ‘Yes, O my lord,’ answered he. ‘Come, eat of this fowl and meat and drink of this wine and sherbet of sugar,’ said she; ‘for thou art weary; and after come hither.’ ‘I hear and obey,’ replied he and did as she bade him.

When he had made an end of eating and drinking, she said to him, ‘Come up with me on the couch and rub my feet.’ So he fell to rubbing her feet and legs and found them softer than silk. Then said she, ‘Go higher with the rubbing;’ and he, ‘Pardon me, O my lord, I will go no higher than the knee.’ Whereupon, ‘Wilt thou gainsay me?’ quoth she. ‘It shall be an ill-omened night for thee! Nay, but it behoves thee to do my bidding and I will make thee my minion and appoint thee one of my Amirs.’ ‘And in what must I do thy bidding, O King of the age?’ asked Ali. ‘Put off thy trousers,’ answered she, ‘and lie down on thy face.’ Quoth he, ‘That is a thing I never in my life did; and if thou force me thereto, I will accuse thee thereof before God on the Day of Resurrection. Take all thou hast given me and let me go to my own city.’ And he wept and lamented. But she said, ‘Put off thy trousers and lie down on thy face, or I will strike off thy head.’ [sic] So he did as she bade him and she mounted upon his back. And he felt what was softer than silk and fresher than cream and said in himself, ‘Of a truth, this King is better than all the women!’

She abode awhile on his back, then turned over on to the ground, and he said [in himself], ‘Praised be God! It seems his yard is not in point.’ Then said she, ‘O Ali, it is of the wont of my yard that it standeth not on end, except it be rubbed with the hand; so, come, rub it with thy hand, till it be in point, else will I kill thee.’ So saying, she lay down on her back and taking his hand, set