Nor do I require or desire the delicacies of diet, but do
thou favor me by sending thy handmaid every day with a bit of bread
and a sup of water, and, when I feel fain of food, let me eat by
myself in my own room."
Now the accursed hereby purposed to avert the danger of haply
raising his face kerchief at mealtimes, when his intent might be
baffled by his beard and mustachios discovering him to be a man. The
Princess replied: "O my Lady Fatimah, be of good heart, naught shall
happen save what thou wishest. But now arise and let me show thee
the apartment in the palace which I would prepare for thy sojourn with
us." The Lady Badr al-Budur arose, and taking the necromancer who
had disguised himself as the devotee, ushered him in to the place
which she had kindly promised him for a home, and said: "O my Lady
Fatimah, here thou shalt dwell with every comfort about thee and in
all privacy and repose, and the place shall be named after thy
name." Whereupon the Maghrabi acknowledged her kindness and prayed for
her. Then the Princess showed him the jalousies and the jeweled
kiosque with its four and twenty windows, and said to him, "What
thinkest thou, O my Lady Fatimah, of this marvelous pavilion?" The
Moorman replied: "By Allah, O my daughter, 'tis indeed passing fine
and wondrous exceedingly, nor do I deem that its fellow is to be found
in the whole universe.
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