"' 'We hear and
obey,' answered they and did as she bade them. So, when Alaeddin
returned, he found two of the Khalif's eunuchs sitting at the
door and was amazed and said to himself, 'Surely, this is not my
own house; or else what can have happened?' When the eunuchs saw
him, they rose and kissing his hands, said to him, 'We are of the
Khalif's household and servants to Cout el Culoub, who salutes
thee, giving thee to know that the Khalif hath bestowed her on
thee, her and her women, and craves thy company.' Quoth Alaeddin,
'Say ye to her, "Thou art welcome; but so long as thou abidest
with me, I will not enter thy lodging, for it befits not that
what was the master's should become the servant's;" and ask her
also what was the sum of her day's expense in the Khalif's
palace.' So they went in to her and did his errand to her, and
she replied, 'A hundred dinars a day;' whereupon quoth he in
himself, 'There was no need for the Khalif to give me Cout el
Culoub, that I should be put to such an expense for her; but
there is no help for it.' So she abode with him awhile and he
assigned her daily a hundred dinars for her maintenance, till,
one day, he absented himself from the Divan and the Khalif said
to Jaafer, 'O Vizier, I gave Cout el Culoub unto Alaeddin, that
she might console him for his wife; but why doth he still hold
aloof from us?' 'O Commander of the Faithful,' answered Jaafer,
'he spoke sooth who said, "Whoso findeth his beloved, forgetteth
his friends.
Pages:
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417