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the guard saw them, wonder took them and they were breathless for amaze at this sight, the like whereof they had never in their lives seen, and especially at the slave-girls, each one of whom would ravish the wit of an anchorite. Withal, the chamberlains and captains of the Sultan’s guards were all of them sons of grandees and Amirs; and they marvelled yet more at the damsels’ costly raiment and the dishes which they bore on their heads and on which they might not open their eyes,[1] for the excess of their flashing and radiance. Then the guards[2] entered and told the Sultan, who bade bring them before him forthright into the Divan. So Alaeddin’s mother entered with them and when they came before the Sultan, they all did obeisance to him with the utmost courtliness and gravity and invoked on him glory and prosperity; then, raising the dishes from their heads, they set them down before him and stood with their hands clasped behind them, after they had removed the covers.
The Sultan wondered with an exceeding wonderment and was confounded at the beauty of the girls and their loveliness, which overpassed description; his wit was bewildered, when he saw the golden dishes, full of jewels
