Pagina 368 de 1116

When it was the Fourteenth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the

Kalandar continued his tale thus:-O my lady, the King's daughter

hent in hand a knife whereon were inscribed Hebrew characters and

described a wide circle in the midst of the palace hall, and

therein wrote in Cufic letters mysterious names and talismans;

and she uttered words and muttered charms, some of which we

understood and others we understood not. Presently the world

waxed dark before our sight till we thought that the sky was

falling upon our heads, and lo! the Ifrit presented himself in

his own shape and aspect. His hands were like many pronged pitch

forks, his legs like the masts of great ships, and his eyes like

cressets of gleaming fire.