And as the jangle increased the house mistress could not but
notice it and asked them, "O ye folk! On what matter are ye talking so
loudly?" Then the porter stood up respectfully before her and said: "O
my lady, this company earnestly desire that thou acquaint them with
story of the two bitches and what maketh thee punish them so
cruelly, and then thou fallest to weeping over them and kissing
them. And lastly, they want to hear the tale of thy sister and why she
hath been bastinadoed with palm sticks like a man. These are the
questions they charge me to put, and peace be with thee." Thereupon
quoth she who was the lady of the house to the guests, "Is this true
that he saith on your part?" and all replied, "Yes!" save Ja'afar, who
kept silence.
When she heard these words she cried: "By Allah, ye have wronged us,
O our guests, with grievous wronging, for when you came before us we
made compact and condition with you that whoso should speak of what
concerneth him not should hear what pleaseth him not. Sufficeth ye not
that we took you into our house and fed you with our best food? But
the fault is not so much yours as hers who let you in.
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