Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 7.djvu/104

86 known, and these apes thou seest, which are skilled in all manner crafts; and all thou seekest thou wilt find here.’ ‘O my brother,’ replied Seif el Mulouk, ‘I may not abide in any place till my quest be accomplished, though I compass the whole world in pursuit thereof, so haply God may bring me to my desire or my course lead me to the place, wherein is the appointed term of my days, and I shall die.’

Then the youth signed to one of the apes, and he went out and was absent awhile, after which he returned with other apes, girt with napkins of silk. They laid the table and set on near a hundred dishes of gold and silver, containing all kinds of meats. Then they stood, after the manner of servants before kings, till the youth signed to the chamberlains, who sat down, and he whose wont it was to serve stood, whilst the two princes ate, till they had enough. Then the apes cleared the table and brought basins and ewers of gold, and they washed their hands; after which they set on nigh forty flagons, in each a different kind of wine, and they drank and took their pleasure and made merry; and all the apes danced and gambolled before them, what while they sat at meat; which when Seif saw, he marvelled at them and forgot that which had befallen him of strangerhood and its hardships. At nightfall, they lighted candles in candlesticks of gold and silver and set on dishes of fruits and confections. So they ate; and when the hour of rest was come, the apes spread them beds and they slept.

Next morning, the young man arose, according to his wont, and waking Seif, said to him, ‘Put thy head forth of this lattice and see what stands beneath.’ So he put out his head and saw the wide waste and all the desert filled with apes, whose number none knew save God the Most High. Quoth he, ‘Here is great plenty of apes, for they fill the whole country: but why are they