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be dear and grapes and melons will rot.’ (Q.) ‘What if it fall on Saturday?’ (A.) ‘That is Saturn’s day and portends the preferment of slaves and Greeks and those in whom there is no good, neither in their neighbourhood; there will be great drought and scarcity; clouds will abound and death will be rife among mankind and woe to the people of Egypt and Syria from the oppression of the Sultan and failure of blessing upon the green crops and rotting of grain.’
With this, the astronomer hung his head, [being at an end of his questions], and she said to him, ‘O astronomer, I will ask thee one question, which if thou answer not, I will take thy clothes.’ ‘Ask on,’ replied he. Quoth she, ‘Where is Saturn’s dwelling-place?’ And he answered, ‘In the seventh heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of Jupiter?’ (A.) ‘In the sixth heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of Mars?’ (A.) ‘In the fifth heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of the sun?’ (A.) ‘In the fourth heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of Venus?’ (A.) ‘In the third heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of Mercury?’ (A.) ‘In the second heaven.’ (Q.) ‘And that of the moon?’ (A.) ‘In the first heaven.’ Quoth she, ‘Well answered; but I have one more question to ask thee. Into how many parts are the stars divided?’ But he was silent and answered nothing; and she said to him, ‘Put off thy clothes.’ So he put them off and she took them; after which the Khalif said to her, ‘Tell us the answer to thy question.’ ‘O Commander of the Faithful,’ answered she, ‘the stars are divided into three parts, one whereof is hung in the sky of the earth,[1] as it were lamps, to give light to the earth, another suspended in the air, to give light to the seas and that which is therein, and the third is used to transfix the demons withal, when they draw near by stealth to [listen to the talk of the angels in] heaven. Quoth
- ↑ The lowest of the seven stages into which Mohammedan tradition divides the heavens.
