Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Vol 9.djvu/124

104 trinkets, for that he had wrought the latter with his own hand, and he saw on her fingers the rings he had newly made for Kemerezzeman, whereby he was certified that she was indeed his wife. So he said to her, ‘What is thy name, O slave-girl?’ And she answered, ‘Helimeh,’ naming to him her own name; whereat he was amazed and said to Kemerezzeman, ‘For how much didst thou buy her?’ ‘For a thousand dinars,’ answered he. ‘Then,’ rejoined the jeweller, ‘thou hast gotten her for nothing; for her rings and clothes and trinkets are worth more than that.’ ‘May God rejoice thee with good news!’ said Kemerezzeman. ‘Since she pleases thee, I will carry her to my house.’ And Ubeid answered, ‘Do thy will.’ So he carried her to his house, whence she passed through the secret passage to her own apartment and sat there.

Meanwhile, fire flamed in the jeweller’s heart and he said to himself, ‘I will go see my wife. If she be at home, this slave-girl must be her counterpart, and glory be to Him who [only] hath no counterpart! But, if she be not at home, it is she herself without a doubt.’ Then he set off, running, and coming to his house, found his wife sitting in the same clothes and ornaments he had seen upon her in the shop; whereupon he beat hand upon hand, saying, ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ ‘O man,’ said she, ‘art thou mad or what aileth thee? It is not thy wont to do thus, and it must be that something hath befallen thee.’ ‘If thou wilt have me tell thee,’ answered he, ‘be not vexed.’ ‘Say on,’ quoth she. So he said, ‘Our friend the merchant hath bought a slave-girl, whose shape is as thy shape and her height as thy height; moreover, her name is even as thine and her apparel is the like of thine apparel. Brief, she resembles thee in all her attributes, and on her fingers are rings like thy rings and her trinkets are like unto thy trinkets. So, when he showed her to