I recorded the date of
my marriage and the conception of my wife and the birth of my
daughter, and from her horoscope I find that her name is conjoined
with that of her cousin, and there are damsels in foison for our
lord the Sultan.'
"The King, hearing his Minister's answer and refusal, waxed wroth
with exceeding wrath and cried: 'When the like of me asketh a girl
in marriage of the like of thee, he conferreth an honor, and thou
rejectest me and puttest me off with cold excuses! Now, by the life of
my head, I will marry her to the meanest of my men in spite of the
nose of thee!' There was in the palace a horse groom which was a Gobbo
with a bunch to his breast and a hunch to his back, and the Sultan
sent for him and married him to the daughter of the Wazir, lief or
loth, and hath ordered a pompous marriage procession for him and
that he go in to his bride this very night. I have not just flown
hither from Cairo, where I left the hunchback at the door of the
hammam bath amidst the Sultan's white slaves, who were waving
lighted flambeaux about him. As for the Minister's daughter, she
sitteth among her nurses and tirewomen, weeping and wailing, for
they have forbidden her father to come near her.
Pages:
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266