Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 6.djvu/42

22 and kindling the fire in the chafing-dish, made ready the perfumes. Then said he to Jouder, ‘O Jouder, I wish to renew my injunctions to thee.’ ‘O my lord the pilgrim,’ answered he, ‘if I have forgotten the beating, I have forgotten the injunctions.’ ‘Dost thou indeed remember them,’ asked the Moor, and he said, ‘Yes.’ Quoth the Moor, ‘Keep thy wits, and think not that the woman is thy very mother; nay, she is but an enchantment in her semblance, whose purpose is to catch thee tripping. Thou camest off alive the first time, but, if thou make default this time, they will kill thee.’ ‘If I slip this time,’ replied Jouder, ‘I deserve to be burnt of them.’

Then Abdussemed cast in the perfumes and recited the conjurations, till the river dried up; whereupon Jouder descended and knocked at the door. It opened and he entered and undid the several enchantments, till he came to the seventh door and the semblance of his mother appeared before him, saying, ‘Welcome, O my son!’ But he said to her, ‘How am I thy son, O accursed one? Strip!’ And she began to wheedle him and put off garment after garment, till but her trousers remained; and he said to her, ‘Strip, O accursed one!’ So she put off her trousers and became a body without a soul. Then he entered the hall of the treasure, where he saw gold lying in heaps, but paid no heed to it and passed on to the niche at the upper end, where he saw the enchanter Es Shemerdel lying on a couch of gold, girt with the sword, with the ring on his finger, the kohl-pot on his breast and the celestial planisphere over his head. So he unbuckled the sword and taking the ring, the kohl-pot and the planisphere, went forth, when, behold, music sounded for him and the servants of the treasure cried out, saying, ‘Mayst thou enjoy that which thou hast gained, O Jouder!’ Nor did the music leave sounding, till he came forth of the treasure to the Moor, who gave over his conjurations and