The King made the following silent prayer, `O my soul, let me follow the right way, and let all those people among whom I find myself be stunned with drunkenness, so that they cannot know the King from his subjects, and God give me strength.'

He then entered the saloon saying: `In the name of God!' and he tottered towards the bed of the negro as if drunk. The negroes and the women took him to be the woman whose attire he had taken.

Dorérame had a great desire to have his pleasure with that woman, and when he saw her sit down by the bed he thought that she had broken her sleep to come to him, perhaps for love games. So he said, `Oh, you, so and so, undress and get into my bed, I shall soon be back'

The King said to himself, `There is no might and strength but in the High God, the Benevolent!' Then he searched for the keys in the clothes and pockets of the negro, but found nothing. He said, `God's will be done!' Then raising his eyes, he saw a high window; he reached up with his arm, and found gold- embroidered garments there; he slipped his hands into the pockets, and, oh, surprise! he found the keys. He examined then' and counted seven, corresponding to the number of the doors of the house, and in his joy, he exclaimed, `God, be praised and glorified!' Then he said, `I can only get out of here by a ruse.' Then feigning sickness, and appearing as if he wanted to vomit violently, he held his hand before his mouth, and hurried to the centre of the courtyard. The negro said to him, `God bless you! oh, so and so! any other woman would have been sick into the bed!'

`The King then went to the inner door of the house, and opened it; he closed it behind him, and so from one door to the other, till he came to the seventh, which opened upon the street. Here he found his companions agaIn, who had been in great anxiety, and who asked him what he had seen?

Then said the King: `This is not the time to answer. Let us go into this house with the blessing of God and with his help.'

They resolved to be upon their guard, there being in the house seven negroes twelve maidens, and seven women, beautiful as moons.

The Vizir asked the King, `What garments are these?' And the King answered, `Be silent; without them I should never have got the keys.'

He then went to the chamber where were the two women, with whom he had been lying, took off the clothes in which he was dressed, and resumed his own, taking good care of his sword. Repairing to the saloon, where the negroes and the women were, he and his companions ranged themselves behind the door curtain.

After having looked into the saloon, they said, `Amongst all these women there is none more beautiful than the one seated on the elevated cushion!' The King said, `I reserve her for myself, if she does not belong to someone else.'

While they were examining the interior of the saloon, Dorérame descended from the bed, and after him one of those beautiful women. Then another negro got on the bed with another woman, and soon till the seventh. They rode them in this way, one after the other, excepting the beautiful woman mentioned above, and the maidens. Each of these women appeared to mount upon the bed with marked reluctance, and descended, after the coition was finished, with her head bent down.

The negroes, however, were lusting after, and pressing one after the other, the beautiful woman. But she spurned them all, saying, `I shall never consent to it, and as to these virgins, I take them also under my protection.'