Page:The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night - Volume 2.djvu/45

 Nur al-Din AH and the Damsel Ants al-Jalis. 27 are these, O blessed one?" At this the two laughed until they fell on their backs ; then they drank and gave him to drink and ceased not their carousal till a third part of the night was past. Then said the damsel, " O Shaykh Ibrahim, with thy leave I will get up and light one of these candles." " Do so," he replied, " but light no more than one." So she sprang to her feet and, begin- ning with one candle, lighted all the eighty and sat down again. Presently Nur al-Din said, " O Shaykh Ibrahim, in what favour am I with thee ? May I not light one of these lamps ? " " Light one," replied he, " and bother me no more in thy turn ! " So he rose and lighted one lamp after another, till he had lighted the whole eighty and the palace seemed to dance with brilliancy. Quoth the Shaykh (and indeed intoxication had overcome him), " Ye two are bolder than I am." Then he rose to his feet and opened all the lattices and sat down again ; and they fell to carousing and reciting verses till the place rang with their noisy mirth. Now Allah, the Decreer who decreeth all things and who for every effect appointeth a cause, had so disposed that the Caliph was at that moment sitting in the light of the moon at one of the windows of his palace overlooking the Tigris. He saw the blaze of the lamps and wax candles reflected in the river and, lifting his eyes, perceived that it came from the Garden Palace which was all ablaze with brilliancy. So he cried, " Here to me with Ja'afar the Barmaki!"; and the last word was hardly spoken ere the Wazir was present before the Commander of the Faithful, who cried at him, " O dog of a Minister, hast thou taken from me this city of Baghdad without saying aught to me ? " " What words are these words ? " asked Ja'afar ; and the Caliph answered, " If Baghdad city were not taken from me, the Palace of Pictures would not be illuminated with lamps and candles, nor would its windows be thrown open. Woe to thee ! who durst do a deed like this except the Caliphate had been taken from me?" Quoth Ja'afar (and indeed his side-muscles trembled as he spoke), " Who told thee that the Palace of Pictures was illuminated and the windows thrown open ? " " Come hither and see," replied the Caliph. Then Ja'afar came close to the Caliph and, looking towards the garden, saw the palace blazing with illumination that rayed through the gloom of the night ; and, thinking that this might have been per- mitted by the keeper for some reason of his own, he wished to make an excuse for him ; so quoth he, " O Commander of the Faithful, Shaykh Ibrahim said to me last week : O my lord