' 'By Allah,' quoth Alaeddin to himself, 'it were
better to pass the night with a bride on a bed in a house, than
in the streets and vestibules!' So he went with them to the Cadi,
who, as soon as he saw Alaeddin, was moved to love of him and
said to the old man, 'What is your will?' Quoth he, 'We wish to
marry this young man to my daughter, as an intermediary, and the
contract is to be for ten thousand dinars, dowry precedent, for
which he shall give us a bond. If he divorce her in the morning,
we will give him a thousand dinars and a mule and dress worth
other two thousand; but if he divorce her not, he shall pay down
the ten thousand dinars, according to the bond.' The Cadi drew up
the marriage contract to this effect and the lady's father took a
bond for the dowry. Then he took Alaeddin and clothing him anew,
carried him to his daughter's house, where he left him at the
door, whilst he himself went in to the young lady and gave her
the bond, saying, 'Take the bond of thy dowry, for I have married
thee to a handsome youth by name Alaeddin Abou esh Shamat; so do
thou use him with all consideration.' Then he left her and went
to his own lodging. Now the lady's cousin had an old waiting-
woman, to whom he had done many a kindness and who used to visit
Zubeideh; so he said to her, 'O my mother, if my cousin Zubeideh
see this handsome young man, she will never after accept of me;
so I would fain have thee contrive to keep them apart.
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