So they dragged her along on her face and threw her down
before the gate. When she came to herself, she rose and made the
best of her way home, walking and resting by turns. She passed
the night in her own house and in the morning, she went to Taj el
Mulouk and told him what had passed, at which he was distressed
and said, 'O my mother, this that has befallen thee is grievous
to us; but all things are according to fate and destiny.' 'Take
comfort and be of good cheer,' replied she; 'for I will not give
over striving, till I have brought thee and her together and made
thee to enjoy the vile baggage who hath tortured me with
beating.' Quoth the prince, 'Tell me the reason of her aversion
to men.' 'It arose from what she saw in a dream,' answered the
old woman. 'And what was this dream?' asked the prince. 'One
night,' replied she, 'as she lay asleep, she saw a fowler spread
his net upon the ground and scatter grain round it. Then he sat
down hard by, and all the birds in the neighbourhood flocked to
the net. Amongst the rest she saw a pair of pigeons, male and
female; and whilst she was watching the net, the male bird's foot
caught in it and he began to struggle, whereupon all the other
birds took fright and flew away. But presently his mate came back
and hovered over him, then alighted on the net, unobserved by the
fowler, and fell to picking and pulling at the mesh in which the
male bird's foot was entangled with her beak, till she released
him and they flew away together.
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