" Said the other: "I desire
thee to fetch me an egg of the bird roc, and do thou hang it to the
dome crown of this my pavilion." But when the Marid heard these words,
his face waxed fierce and he shouted with a mighty loud voice and a
frightful, and cried: "O denier of kindly deeds, sufficeth it not
for thee that I and all the Slaves of the Lamp are ever at thy
service, but thou must also require me to bring thee our Liege Lady
for thy pleasure, and hang her up at thy pavilion dome for the
enjoyment of thee and thy wife? Now, by Allah, ye deserve, thou and
she, that I reduce you to ashes this very moment and scatter you
upon the air. But inasmuch as ye twain be ignorant of this matter,
unknowing its inner from its outer significance, I will pardon you,
for indeed ye are but innocents. The offense cometh from that accursed
necromancer, brother to the Maghrabi, the magician, who abideth here
representing himself to be Fatimah, the devotee, after assuming her
dress and belongings and murthering her in the cavern. Indeed he
came hither seeking to slay thee by way of blood revenge for his
brother, and 'tis he who taught thy wife to require this matter of
me.
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