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Scheherazade demanded leave of the sultan, and having obtained it, Sir, says she, the three calenders, the caliph, the grand vizier Giafar, the eunuch Mesrour, and the porter, were all in the middle of the hall, set upon a foot-carpet, in the presence of the three ladies, who sat upon a sofa, and the slaves stood ready to do whatever their mistresses should command.
Safie, who had opened the door, came back and obtained permission of her sisters to admit the newly arrived strangers. The caliph and his attendants, upon their entrance, most courteously made obeisance to the ladies and to the calenders. The ladies returned their salutations, supposing them to be merchants.
The frightened porter interrupted her thus: In the name of Heaven, do not make me die for another man's crime. I am innocent, they are to blame. Alas! says he, crying, how pleasantly did we pass our time! those blind calenders are the cause of this misfortune; there is no town in the world but goes to ruin, wherever these inauspicious fellows come.
This is all the account that we can give you, in obedience to your commands." Zobeide having heard this statement, seemed to hesitate what to say, which the calenders perceiving, prayed her to grant the same favour to the three Moussol merchants as she had done to them. "Well then," said she, "you shall all be equally obliged to me; I pardon you all, provided you immediately depart."
Having done this she begged the Calenders to sit on a sofa on one side of the room, and the Caliph and his friends to place themselves opposite. As to the porter, she requested him to come and help her and her sister. Shortly after Amina entered carrying a seat, which she put down in the middle of the empty space. She next went over to the door of a closet and signed to the porter to follow her.
The caliph endeavoured to prevail with the calenders to speak first; but they excused themselves, and at last they agreed that the porter should be the man.
This proceeded from three merchants of Moussol, men of good appearance, who begged the same favour which the calenders had obtained before. We consented upon the same conditions, but neither of them kept their promise.
"What," said the caliph, "are you not of the family? Can you not resolve us concerning the two black bitches and the lady that fainted away, who appears to have been so basely abused?" "Sir," said the calenders, "this is the first time of our being in the house; we came in but a few minutes before you."
This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye. Quoth the mistress of the house, 'Begone about thy business. But he said, 'By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others' stories! Then she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, 'Give me an account of yourselves. So Jaafer came forward and repeated the story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, 'I pardon you all: go your ways. So they all went out; and when they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, 'O folk, whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day? 'By Allah, O my lord, answered they, 'we know not where to go! 'Then come and pass the rest of the night with us, said the Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, 'Take them home with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause their adventures to be recorded. Jaafer did as the Khalif bade him, and the latter returned to his palace.
Presently we were joined by these three Calenders and later on by three respectable merchants from Tiberias, all of whom we admitted to our company on certain conditions, which they infringed.
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