"Heaven forbid," said Lallakalla meekly, "that I should come to
the Light of the Universe with hair of the color that he hates;
for he chose every color sooner than my poor color. Therefore I
have left the brown hair for Ashimullah, for he loves it, and I
have brought my lord the colors that my lord loves." And with
this she laid the three wigs of black hair, of golden, and of
ruddy at the Sultan's feet, and stood herself before him with her
shaven poll.
Then the Sultan, seeing that Lallakalla looked very ludicrous
with her shaven poll, burst out laughing. And he came and took
her by the hand, and said to her:
"Behold a woman who loves her husband better than her
beauty, and to be his wife rather than mine! Return, then, to
Ashimullah and be his wife again."
"My lord," said she, "suffer me also to take back with me the
other wives of Ashimullah," and she pointed to the heads of hair
that lay upon the ground.
"Take them," said he, laughing. "And since Ashimullah has
already four wives and yet will give me no wife, why, neither
will I give Ashimullah any wives. But he shall have the four
wives that he had before, and all the city shall hear of the
beauty and the virtue of Ashimullah's wives."
So Lallakalla went home in great joy, and put on her own hair,
which she had fashioned into a wig, and went in to Ashimullah.
And they dwelt happily together, there being no differences in
their household, save in the color of Lallakalla's hair from day
to day.
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