Stablish thy reason, O my lord, and
return to thy senses and occupy thy mind no longer [with vain
imaginations].' 'O Vizier,' rejoined Kemerezzeman, incensed at
his words, 'the young lady in question is my beloved, the fair
one with the black eyes and red cheeks, whom I held in my arms
all last night.' The Vizier wondered at his words and said to
him, 'Didst thou see this damsel with thine eyes and on wake,
or in sleep?' 'O wretched old man,' answered Kemerezzeman,
'thinkest thou I saw her with my ears? Indeed, I saw her with my
very eyes and on wake and touched her with my hand and watched by
her half the night, gazing my fill on her beauty and grace and
elegance and lovely looks. But thou hadst schooled her and
charged her to speak no word to me; so she feigned sleep and I
lay by her side till morning, when I awoke and found her gone.'
'O my lord Kemerezzeman,' rejoined the Vizier, 'surely thou
sawest this in thy sleep; it must have been a delusion of dreams
or a hallucination caused by eating various kinds of food or a
suggestion of the accursed devils.' 'O pestilent old man,' cried
the prince, 'wilt thou too make a mock of me and tell me this was
an illusion of dreams, when this eunuch confessed to the young
lady, saying, "I will return to thee forthwith and tell thee all
about her?"' So saying, he sprang up and laying hold of the
Vizier's long beard, twisted his hand in it and tugging him off
the couch, threw him on the floor.
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