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present of guards, and Tuhfeh abode alone, pondering the affair of Er Reshid and bethinking her of how it was with him, after her, and of that which had betided him for her loss, till the dawn gleamed, when she arose and walked in the palace. Presently she saw a handsome door; so she opened it and found herself in a garden goodlier than the first, never saw eyes a fairer than it. When she beheld this garden, delight moved her and she called to mind her lord Er Reshid and wept sore, saying, ‘I crave of the bounty of God the Most High that my return to him and to my palace and my home may be near at hand!’
Then she walked in the garden till she came to a pavilion, lofty of building and wide of continence, never saw mortal nor heard of a goodlier than it. [So she entered] and found herself in a long corridor, which led to a bath goodlier than that whereof it hath been spoken, and the cisterns thereof were full of rose-water mingled with musk. Quoth Tuhfeh, ‘Extolled be the perfection of God! Indeed, this[1] is none other than a mighty king.’ Then she put off her clothes and washed her body and made her ablution, after the fullest fashion,[2] and prayed that which was due from her of prayer from the evening [of the previous day].[3] When the sun rose upon the gate
- ↑ i.e. the owner of this palace.
- ↑ The Mohammedan rite of ablution, previous to prayer, is a very elaborate and complicated process, somewhat “scamped” by the ordinary “true-believer.” See my “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night,” Vol. IV. pp. 332–4.
- ↑ i.e. the prayers of nightfall, in addition to those of daybreak.
