If there
be nobody in it, says he to himself, I have nothing to fear, and
if there be, I have wherewith to defend me.
At last he entered, and when he came within the porch, he cries,
Is there nobody here to receive a stranger, who comes in for some
refreshment as he passes by? He repeated the same two or three
times; but, though he spoke very high, nobody answered.
This silence increased his astonishment; he came into a very
spacious court, and looking on every side to see if he could
perceive any body, he saw no living thing. But, sir, says
Scheherazade, day appears, and I must stop.
Ah! sister, says Dinarzade, you break off at the very best of the
story. It is true, answers the sultaness; but, sister, you see I
am forced to do so. If my lord the sultan pleases, you may hear
the rest to-morrow, Schahriar agreed to this, not so much to
please Dinarzade as to satisfy his own curiosity, being mightily
impatient to hear what adventure the prince met with in the
castle.
The Twenty-first Night.
Dinarzade, to make amends for her neglect the night before, never
laid eye together, and, when she thought it was time, awaked the
sultaness, saying to her, My dear sister, pray give us an account
of what happened in the fine castle where you left us yesterday.
Scheherazade forthwith resumed her story, and, addressing herself
to Schahriar, says, Sir, the sultan, perceiving nobody in the
court, entered the great halls, which were hung with silk
tapestry; the alcoves and sofas were covered with stuffs of
Mecca, and the porches with the richest stuffs of the Indies,
mixed with gold and silver.
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