Now she had hidden the
letter in her hair: so she sat down by the princess and rubbing
her head, said, 'O my lady, maybe thou wilt comb out my hair: for
it is long since I went to the bath.' The princess bared her arms
to the elbow and letting down the old woman's hair, began to comb
it, when out dropped the letter and Dunya seeing it, asked what
it was. Quoth the nurse, 'This paper must have stuck to me, as I
sat in the merchant's shop: give it me, that I may return it to
him; belike it contains some reckoning of which he hath need.'
But the princess opened it, and reading it, cried out, 'This is
one of thy tricks, and hadst thou not reared me, I would lay
violent hands on thee forthright! Verily God hath afflicted me
with this merchant: but all that hath befallen me with him is of
thy contrivance. I know not whence this fellow can have come:
none but he would venture to affront me thus, and I fear lest
this my case get wind, the more that it concerns one who is
neither of my rank nor of my peers.' 'None would dare speak of
this,' rejoined the old woman, 'for fear of thine anger and awe
of thy father; so there can be no harm in sending him an answer.'
'O my nurse,' said the princess, 'verily this fellow is a devil.
How can he dare to use such language to me and not dread the
Sultan's wrath? Indeed, I am perplexed about his case: if I order
him to be put to death, it were unjust; and if I leave him, his
presumption will increase.
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