He also sware himself by a binding
oath that whatever wife he married he would abate her maidenhead at
night and slay her next morning, to make sure of his honor. "For,"
said he, "there never was nor is there one chaste woman upon the
face of earth."
Then Shah Zaman prayed for permission to fare homeward, and he
went forth equipped and escorted and traveled till he reached his
own country. Meanwhile Shahryar commanded his Wazir to bring him the
bride of the night that he might go in to her. So he produced a most
beautiful girl, the daughter of one of the emirs, and the King went in
unto her at eventide. And when morning dawned, he bade his Minister
strike off her head, and the Wazir did accordingly, for fear of the
Sultan. On this wise he continued for the space of three years,
marrying a maiden every night and killing her the next morning, till
folk raised an outcry against him and cursed him, praying Allah
utterly to destroy him and his rule. And women made an uproar and
mothers wept and parents fled with their daughters till there remained
not in the city a young person fit for carnal copulation.
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