Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/268

240 Quoth the old woman, ‘I will carry thee to him and do thou cast thy burden on him and make a vow to him; so peradventure, when thy husband returns from his journey, he will lie with thee and thou shalt conceive by him and bear a girl or a boy: but, be it male or female, it shall be a dervish of the Sheikh Aboulhemlat.’

So Khatoun rose and arraying herself in her richest clothes, donned all her jewellery and said to her maid, ‘Keep thou an eye on the house.’ And she said, ‘I hear and obey, O my lady.’ Then she went down and the porter met her and said to her, ‘Whither away, O my lady?’ ‘I go to visit the Sheikh Aboulhemlat,’ answered she; and he said, ‘Be a year’s fast incumbent on me! Verily yon old woman is of the saints of God and full of holiness! Moreover, O my lady, she hath hidden treasure at her commandment, for she gave me three dinars of red gold and divined my case, without my asking her, and knew that I was needy.’ Then the old woman went out with Khatoun, saying to her, ‘God willing, O my daughter, when thou hast visited the Sheikh Aboulhemlat, there shall betide thee solace of soul and by God’s leave thou shalt conceive, and thy husband shall love thee by the blessing of the Sheikh and shall never again say a despiteful word to thee.’ Quoth Khatoun, ‘I will go with thee to him, O my mother!’ But Delileh said in herself, ‘Where shall I strip her and take her clothes and jewellery, with the folk coming and going?’ Then she said to her, ‘O my daughter, walk thou behind me, within sight of me, for thy mother is a woman sorely burthened; every one who hath a burden casteth it on me and all who have pious offerings to make give them to me and kiss my hand.’

So the lady followed her at a distance, whilst her anklets tinkled and the coins and ornaments plaited in the tresses