Page:The Way of a Virgin.djvu/123

Rh night was all but spent, when she went her way. As soon as morning morrowed, the Prince awoke from sleep and turned right and left, but found not the maiden by him and said in his mind:

"What is this business? It is as if my father would incline me to marriage with the damsel who was with me and have now taken her away by stealth, to the intent that my desire for wedlock may redouble."

Then he called out to the eunuch who slept at the door, saying:

"Woe to thee, O damned one, arise at once!"

So the eunuch rose, bemused with sleep, and brought him basin and ewer, whereupon Kamar al-Zaman entered the water-closet and did his need; then, coming out, made the Wuzu-ablution and prayed the dawn-prayer, after which he sat telling on his beads the ninety-and-nine names of Almighty Allah....

''Strictly speaking, the rest of the story, which, is of great length, is somewhat out of place in this volume. The reader, however, may beinterested to know the upshot of the stratagem adopted by the genii, so we take leave to give it, summarising where necessary.''

Kamar al-Zaman and the Princess Budur, madly in love but grief-stricken by their separation, are eventually brought together and married.