Page:The Thousand And One Days - 1892 - Volume 1.djvu/29

 not restrain his anger. 'You are very insolent,' he cried, 'to compare a private individual with me. Your impudence shall not remain unpunished.' Saying this, he made a sign to the captain of his guards to approach, and commanded him to arrest the vizir Giafar. Then he entered the apartment of the Princess Zobeide his wife, who turned pale with fright at seeing his irritated expression.

'What, my lord,' she said to him, 'can have caused the trouble which agitates you?'

He informed her of what had passed and he complained of his vizir in terms which made Zobeide realise how enraged he was against the minister.

But this wise princess represented to him that he ought to suspend his resentment and send someone to Bassora to verify the matter; that if it turned out to be false the vizir should be punished, but that if on the contrary it were true, which she could not suppose, it was not just to treat him as a criminal.

This speech calmed the fury of the caliph.

'I approve of this advice, madam,' he said to Zobeide, 'and I must admit that I owe this justice