Thereupon quoth he
(being a merry man), "Thou shouldest have told me, and I would have
brought with me a pony or a she-camel to carry all this market stuff."
She smiled and gave him a little cuff on the nape, saying, "Step out
and exceed not in words, for (Allah willing!) thy wage will not be
wanting."
Then she stopped at a perfumer's and took from him ten sorts of
waters, rose scented with musk, orange-flower, water-lily,
willow-flower, violet and five others. And she also bought two
loaves of sugar, a bottle for perfume-spraying, a lump of male
incense, aloe wood, ambergris, and musk, with candles of Alexandria
wax, and she put the whole into the basket, saying, "Up with thy crate
and after me." He did so and followed until she stood before the
greengrocer's, of whom she bought pickled sallower and olives, in
brine and in oil, with tarragon and cream cheese and hard Syrian
cheese, and she stowed them away in the crate, saying to the porter,
"Take up thy basket and follow me." He did so and went after her
till she came to a fair mansion fronted by a spacious court, a tall,
fine place to which columns gave strength and grace.
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