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When the sun rises wend thy went and never more return to this

house." So saying, the Ifrit took up the Gobbo bridegroom and set

him head downwards and feet upwards in the slit of the privy,

[FN#422] and said to him, "I will leave thee here but I shall be

on the look-out for thee till sunrise; and, if thou stir before

then, I will seize thee by the feet and dash out thy brains

against the wall: so look out for thy life!" Thus far concerning

the Hunchback, but as regards Badr al-Din Hasan of Bassorah he

left the Gobbo and the Ifrit jangling and wrangling and, going

into the house, sat him down in the very middle of the alcove;

and behold, in came the bride attended by an old woman who stood

at the door and said, "O Father of Uprightness, [FN#423] arise

and take what God giveth thee." Then the old woman went away and

the bride, Sitt al-Husn or the Lady of Beauty hight, entered the

inner part of the alcove broken-hearted and saying in herself,

"By Allah I will never yield my person to him; no, not even were

he to take my life!" But as she came to the further end she saw

Badr al-Din Hasan and she said, "Dearling!