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made him swear, on the night of his going in to her, that he would take none other to wife nor lie abroad from her a night. One day, he went to the Divan and saw that each Amir had with him a son or two. Then he entered the bath and looking at his face in the mirror, saw that the white hairs in his beard outnumbered the black and said in himself, ‘Will not He who took thy father vouchsafe thee a son?’ So he went in to his wife, in an angry mood, and she said to him, ‘Good-even to thee.’ ‘Away from my sight!’ answered he. ‘From the day I saw thee I have seen nothing of good.’ ‘How so?’ asked she. Quoth he, ‘On the night of my going in to thee, thou madest me swear to take no other wife than thee, and to-day I have seen each Amir with a son and some with two. So I bethought me of death and called to mind that I had been blessed with neither son nor daughter and that he who leaves no male child is not remembered. This, then, is the reason of my anger, for thou art barren and conceivest not by me.’ ‘The name of God be upon thee!’ answered she. ‘Indeed, I have worn out the mortars with beating wool and pounding drugs, and I am not to blame; the fault of my barrenness is with thee, for that thou art a snub-nosed mule and thy sperm is thin and impregnateth not neither getteth children.’ Quoth he, ‘When I return from my journey, I will take another wife.’ And she said, ‘My portion is with God!’ Then he went out from her and each of them repented of the sharp words spoken to the other.
As the Amir’s wife looked forth of her lattice, as she were a bride of the treasures,[1] for the jewellery upon her, Delileh espied her and seeing her clad in costly clothes and ornaments, said to herself, ‘O Delileh, it would be a
- ↑ The beautiful damsels who guard enchanted treasures, such as that of Es Shemerdel (see supra, p. 17 et seq.), are called by the Arabs, “brides of the treasure.”
