" "Good," answered they; and he
commanded the curtains to be drawn before Nuzhet ez Zeman and her
attendants, who began to wish her joy and kiss her hands and
feet, for that she was become the Viceroy's wife. Then they came
round her and easing her of the weight of her clothes and
ornaments, began to look upon her beauty and grace. Presently the
wives of the Amirs and Viziers heard that King Sherkan had bought
a damsel unmatched for beauty and accomplishments and versed in
all branches of knowledge, at the price of three hundred and
twenty thousand dinars, and that he had set her free and married
her and summoned the four Cadis to examine her. So they asked
leave of their husbands and repaired to the palace. When they
came in to her, she rose and received them with courtesy,
welcoming them and promising them all good. Moreover, she smiled
in their faces and made them sit down in their proper stations,
as if she had been brought up with them, so that their hearts
were taken with her and they all wondered at her good sense and
fine manners, as well as at her beauty and grace, and said to
each other, "This damsel is none other than a queen, the daughter
of a king." Then they sat down, magnifying her, and said to her,
"O our lady, our city is illumined by thy presence, and our
country and kingdom are honoured by thee. The kingdom indeed is
thine and the palace is thy palace, and we all are thy handmaids;
so do not thou shut us out from thy favours and the sight of thy
beauty.
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