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the slab with all ease, whenas he pronounced his own name and those of his father and his mother. So the stone came up and he threw it aside; whereupon[1] there appeared to him an underground place and its door, whereas one entered by a stair of some dozen steps, and the Maugrabin said to him, “O Alaeddin, give heed[2] and do punctually that which I shall tell thee, neither fail of aught thereof. Go down with all circumspection into yonder vault till thou come to the bottom thereof and thou wilt find there a place divided into four chambers,[3] in each of which thou wilt see four jars of gold and others of native ore and silver. Beware lest thou handle them or take aught therefrom, but pass them by till thou come to the fourth chamber, and let not thy clothes or thy skirts touch the jars, no, nor the walls, and stay not one moment; for, an thou do contrary to this, thou wilt forthright be transformed and wilt become a black stone. When thou comest to the fourth chamber, thou wilt find there a door; open it and speak the names which thou spokest over the slab; then enter and thou
- ↑ Night DXXV.
- ↑ Or “pay attention,” dir (vulg. for edir) balek. See ante, p. 78, note.
- ↑ Lit. “a place divided into four places.” I take the variant aweis, chambers, from Chavis’s copy of the MS., as quoted by M. Zotenberg.
