Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 4.djvu/57

SOME Minutes before Day, the Sultaneſs of the Indies waking, purſued her Story as follows. The Officer of the Eunuchs, continued the Bagdad Merchant, was angry that they ſhould break his Reſt, and chide the Favourite Lady ſeverely for coming home ſo late; You ſhall not come off fo eaſily as you think for, ſaid he; not one of theſe Trunks ſhall paſs till I have opened ’em every one. At the ſame time he commanded the Eunuchs to bring ’em before him, and open ’em one by one. The firſt they begun with was that where I lay, which run me to the laſt degree of Conſternation.

The Favourite Lady, who had the Key of that Trunk, proteſted it ſhould not be opened. You know very well, ſaid ſhe, I bring nothing hither but what is to ſerve Zobeide your Miſtreſs and mine, this Trunk, continued ſhe, is filled with rich Goods that I had from ſome Merchants lately arrived, beſides a Number of Bottles of Zemzem Water^[1] ſent from Mecca; and if any of theſe ſhould happen to break, the Goods will be ſpoiled, and then you muſt anſwer for them, Zobeide will take care, I’ll warrant you, to reſent your Inſolence. In fine, ſhe ſtood up ſo right to the Matter, that the Officer did not dare to take upon him to open any of the Trunks. Let them go then, ſaid he, carry them off. Upon that the Lady’s Apartment was opened, and all the Trunks were carried in.

They were ſcarce got in, when all on a ſudden I heard the Folks cry, here’s the Califf, here comes the Califf! This put me in ſuch a Fright, that I wonder I did not die upon the Spot; for in effect it was the Calif. What haſt thou got in theſe Trunks, ſaid he to the Favourite? Some Stuffs, ſaid ſhe, lately arriv’d, which your Majeſty’s Lady had a mind to ſee. Open ’em cried he, and let me ſee ’em too. She pretended to excuſc her ſelf, alledging the Stuffs