' On
the eleventh day, the King visited her, that he might pay her the
price of the five damsels; but she said to him, 'O King, know
that the price of these passes the competence of men, for I seek
for them neither gold nor silver nor jewels, be it little or
much.' The King wondered at this and said, 'O my lady, what is
their price?' 'I will not sell them to thee,' replied she, 'save
on condition that thou fast a whole month, watching by night and
fasting by day for the love of God the Most High: but if thou
wilt do this, they are thine, to use as thou pleasest.' The King
wondered at the perfectness of her piety and devotion and
abnegation and she was magnified in his eyes, and he said, 'May
God make this pious old woman to profit us!' So he agreed to her
proposal, and she said to him, 'I will help thee with my
prayers.' Then she called for a gugglet of water and muttered
over it words in an unknown language and abode awhile, speaking
over it things that we understood not. Then she covered it with a
cloth and sealing it up, gave it to the King, saying, 'When thou
has fasted ten days, break thy fast on the eleventh night with
what is in this cup, for it will root out the love of the world
from thy heart and fill it with light and faith. As for me, I
purpose to go out to-morrow to visit my brethren of the invisible
world, for I yearn after them, and I will return to thee when the
ten days are past.
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