"
Then, calling an old woman, one of his body-servants, he said to
her, "Go to Er Rebya's house and foregather with the girl Num and
cast about to steal her away, for her like is not to be found on
the face of the earth." She promised to do his bidding; so next
morning she donned clothes of wool[FN#79] and threw round her
neck a rosary of thousands of beads; then, taking in her hand a
staff and water-bottle of Yemen make, went forth, exclaiming,
"Glory be to God! Praised be God! There is no god but God! God
is most great! There is no power and no virtue but in God the
Most High, the Supreme!" Nor did she leave making devout
ejaculations, whilst her heart was full of craft and fraud, till
she came to Nimeh's house, at the hour of noonday-prayer, and
knocked at the door. The doorkeeper opened and said to her,
"What dost thou want?" Quoth she, "I am a poor pious woman, whom
the time of noonday-prayer hath overtaken, and I would fain pray
in this blessed place." "O old woman," answered the porter,
"this is no mosque nor oratory, but the house of Nimeh ben er
Rebya." "I know there is neither mosque nor oratory like the
house of Nimeh ben er Rebya," rejoined she. "I am a chamberwoman
of the palace of the Commander of the Faithful and am come out
upon a pilgrimage of devotion.
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