141
rejoined Hasib, ‘seeing I know neither his disease nor its remedy?’ ‘His cure is in thy hands,’ replied Shemhour; and Hasib said, ‘If I knew the remedy of his sickness, I would heal him.’ Quoth the Vizier, ‘Thou knowest it right well; the remedy of his sickness is the Queen of the Serpents, and thou knowest her abiding-place and hast been with her.’
When Hasib heard this, he knew that all this came of his entering the bath and repented, whenas repentance availed nothing; then said he, ‘What is the Queen of the Serpents? I know her not nor ever in my life heard I of this name.’ ‘Deny not the knowledge of her,’ rejoined the Vizier; ‘for I have proof that thou knowest her and hast passed two years with her.’ ‘I never saw nor heard of her till this moment,’ repeated Hasib; whereupon Shemhour opened a book and after making sundry calculations, raised his head and spoke [or read] as follows; ‘The Queen of the Serpents shall foregather with a man and he shall abide with her two years; then shall he return from her and come forth to the surface of the earth, and when he enters the bath, his belly will become black.’ Then said he, ‘Look at thy belly.’ So Hasib looked at his own belly and behold, it was black: but he [still denied and] said, ‘My belly was black from the day my mother bore me.’ Quoth the Vizier, ‘I had posted three men at the door of every bath, bidding them note all who entered and let me know when they found one whose belly was black: so, when thou enteredst, they looked at thy belly and finding it black, sent and told me, after we had all but despaired of coming across thee. All we want of thee is to show us the place whence thou camest out and after go thy ways; for we have those with us who will take the Queen of the Serpents and fetch her to us.’ Then all the other Viziers and officers and grandees flocked about Hasib and conjured him, till they were weary, to show
