returned to his cell in the caravanserai.
Now by the fiat of Fate on the very next day Fatimah came down to

the city, and the Maghrabi, the necromancer, happened to leave his
hostelry a-morn, when he saw the folk swarming and crowding. Wherefore

he went up to discover what was to do, and found the devotee
standing a-middlemost the throng, and all who suffered from pain or

sickness flocked to her soliciting a blessing, and praying for her
prayers, and each and every she touched became whole of his illness.

The Moroccan, the necromancer, followed her about until she returned
to her antre. Then, awaiting till the evening evened, he arose and

repaired to a vintner's store, where he drank a cup of wine. After
this he fared forth the city, and finding the devotee's cavern,

entered it and saw her lying prostrate with her back upon a strip of
matting. So he came forward and mounted upon her belly, then he drew

his dagger and shouted at her, and when she awoke and opened her eyes,
she espied a Moorish man with an unsheathed poniard sitting upon her

middle as though about to kill her.
She was troubled and sore terrified, but he said to her: "Hearken!

And thou cry out or utter a word, I will slay thee at this very
moment. Arise now and do all I bid thee." Then he sware to her an oath

that if she obeyed his orders, whatever they might be, he would not do
her die. So saying, he rose up from off her and Fatimah also arose,

when he said to her, "Give me thy gear and take thou my habit,"
whereupon she gave him her clothing and head fillets, her face

kerchief and her mantilla. Then quoth he, "'Tis also requisite that
thou anoint me with somewhat shall make the color of my face like unto

thine." Accordingly she went into the inner cavern, and bringing out a
gallipot of ointment, spread somewhat thereof upon her palm and with

it besmeared his face until its hue favored her own. Then she gave him
her staff and, showing him how to walk and what to do when he

entered the city, hung her rosary around his neck. Lastly she handed
to him a mirror and said, "Now look! Thou differest from me in

naught," and he saw himself Fatimah's counterpart as thou she had
never gone or come. But after obtaining his every object he falsed his

oath and asked for a cord, which she brought to him. Then he seized
her and strangled her in the cavern, and presently, when she was dead,

haled the corpse outside and threw it into a pit hard by and went back
to sleep in her cavern. And when broke the day, he rose, and repairing

to the town, took his stand under the walls of Aladdin's pavilion.
Hereupon flocked the folk about him, all being certified that he was

Fatimah, the devotee, and he fell to doing whatso she was wont to
do. He laid hands on these in pain and recited for those a chapter

of the Koran and made orisons for a third. Presently the thronging
of the folk and the clamoring of the crowd were heard by the Lady Badr

al-Budur, who said to her handmaidens. "Look what is to do, and what
he the cause of this turmoil!" Thereupon the aga of the eunuchry fared

forth to see what might be the matter and, presently returning,
said: "O my lady, this clamor is caused by the Lady Fatimah, and if

thou be pleased to command, I will bring her to thee. So shalt thou
gain through her a blessing." The Princess answered: "Go bring her,

for since many a day I am always hearing of her miracles and her
virtues, and I do long to see her and get a blessing by her

intervention, for the folk recount her manifestations in many cases of
difficulty."

The aga went forth and brought in the Moroccan, the necromancer,
habited in Fatimah's clothing, and when the wizard stood before the

Lady Badr al-Budur, he began at first sight to bless her with a string
of prayers, nor did any one of those present doubt at all but that

he was the devotee herself. The Princess arose and salaamed to him,
then, seating him beside her, said: "O my Lady Fatimah, 'tis my desire

that thou abide with me alway, so might I be blessed through thee, and
also learn of thee the paths of worship and piety and follow thine

example making for salvation." Now all this was a foul deceit of the
accursed African, and he designed furthermore to complete his guile,

so he continued: "O my Lady, I am a poor woman and a religious that
dwelleth in the desert, and the like of me deserveth not to abide in

the palaces of the kings." But the Princess replied: "Have no care
whatever, O my Lady Fatimah. I will set apart for thee an apartment of

my pavilion that thou mayest worshiptherein, and none shall ever come
to trouble thee. Also thou shalt avail to worship Allah in my place

better than in thy cavern." The Moroccan rejoined: "Hearkening and
obedience, O my lady. I will not oppose thine order, for that the

commands of the children of the kings may not be gainsaid nor
renounced. Only I hope of thee that my eating and my drinking and

sitting may be within my own chamber, which shall be kept wholly
private. Nor do I require or desire the delicacies of diet, but do

thou favor me by sending thy handmaid every day with a bit of bread
and a sup of water, and, when I feel fain of food, let me eat by

myself in my own room."
Now the accursedhereby purposed to avert the danger of haply

raising his face kerchief at mealtimes, when his intent might be
baffled by his beard and mustachios discovering him to be a man. The

Princess replied: "O my Lady Fatimah, be of good heart, naught shall
happen save what thou wishest. But now arise and let me show thee

the apartment in the palace which I would prepare for thy sojourn with
us." The Lady Badr al-Budur arose, and taking the necromancer who

had disguised himself as the devotee, ushered him in to the place
which she had kindly promised him for a home, and said: "O my Lady

Fatimah, here thou shalt dwell with every comfort about thee and in
all privacy and repose, and the place shall be named after thy

name." Whereupon the Maghrabi acknowledged her kindness and prayed for
her. Then the Princess showed him the jalousies and the jeweled

kiosque with its four and twenty windows, and said to him, "What
thinkest thou, O my Lady Fatimah, of this marvelouspavilion?" The

Moorman replied: "By Allah, O my daughter, 'tis indeed passing fine
and wondrousexceedingly, nor do I deem that its fellow is to be found

in the whole universe. But alas for the lack of one thing which
would enhance its beauty and decoration!" The Princess asked her: "O

my Lady Fatimah, what lacketh it, and what be this thing would add
to its adornment? Tell me thereof, inasmuch as I was wont to believe

it wholly perfect." The Moroccan answered: "O my lady, all it
wanteth is that there he hanging from the middle of the dome the egg

of a fowl called the roc, and were this done, the pavilion would
lack its peer all the world over." The Princess asked, "What he this

bird, and where can we find her egg?" and the Moroccan answered, "O my
lady, the roc is indeed a giant fowl which carrieth off camels and

elephants in her pounces and flieth away with them, such is her
stature and strength. Also this fowl is mostly found in Mount Kaf, and

the architect who built this pavilion is able to bring thee one of her
eggs."

They then left such talk, as it was the hour for the noonday meal,
and when the handmaid had spread the table, the Lady Badr alBudur sent

down to invite the accursed African to eat with her. But he accepted
not, and for a reason he would on no wise consent- nay, he rose and

retired to the room which the Princess had assigned to him and whither
the slave girls carried his dinner. Now when evening evened, Aladdin

returned from the chase and met his wife, who salaamed to him, and
he clasped her to his bosom and kissed her. Presently, looking at

her face, he saw thereon a shade of sadness, and he noted that,
contrary to her custom, she did not laugh, so he asked her: "What hath

betided thee, O my dearling? Tell me, hath aught happened to trouble
thy thoughts?" "Nothing whatever," answered she. "But, O my beloved, I

fancied that our pavilion lacked naught at all. However, O eyes of me,
O Aladdin, were the dome of the upper story hung with an egg of the

fowl called roc, there would be naught like it in the universe." Her
husband rejoined: "And for this trifle thou art saddened, when 'tis

the easiest of all matters to me! So cheer thyself, and whatever
thou wantest, 'tis enough thou inform me thereof, and I will bring