mour in every joint,
For slain was the Giant, and by a pin's point."

Wah! 'tis certain there will need subtlety in this undertaking, and a
plot plotted, so do thou my bidding, and fail not in the part assigned to
thee.'

Now, Feshnavat was persuaded by his words, and cried, 'In diligence,
discretion, and the virtues which characterize subordinates, I go, and I
delay not! I will perform the thing required of me, O Master of the
Event.' And he repeated in verse:

With danger beset, be the path crooked or narrow,
Thou art the bow, and I the arrow.

Then embraced he his daughter, kissing her on the forehead and the eyes,
and tightening the girdle of his robe, departed, with the name of Allah
on his lips, in the direction of the City.

So Shibli Bagarag called to him the two Genii, and his command was,
'Soar, ye slaves of the Sword, till the range of earth and its mountains
and seas and deserts are a cluster in the orb of the eye, Shiraz
conspicuous as a rose among garlands, and the ruby consorted with other
gems in a setting. In Shiraz or the country adjoining ye will come upon
one Baba Mustapha by name; and, if he be alone, ye may recognize him by
his forlorn look and the hang of his cheeks, his vacancy as of utter
abandonment; if in company, 'twill be the only talker that's he; seize on
him, give him a taste of thin air, and deposit him without speech on the
roof of a palace, where ye will see Feshnavat in yonder city: this do ere
the shadows of the palm-tree by the well in the plain move up the mounds
that enclose the fortified parts.'

Cried Karavejis and Veejravoosh, 'To hear is to obey.'

Up into the sky, like two bright balls tossed by jugglers, the two Genii
shot; and, watching them, Noorna bin Noorka said, 'My life, there is a
third wanting, Ravejoura; and with aid of the three, earth could have
planted no obstruction to thy stroke; but thou wert tempted by the third
temptation in Aklis, and left not the Hall in triumph, the Hall of the
Duping Brides!'

He answered, 'That is so, my soul; and the penalty is mine, by which I am
made to employ deceits ere I strike.'

And she said, ''Tis to the generosity of Gulrevaz thou owest Karavejis
and Veejravoosh; and I think she was generous, seeing thee true to me in
love, she that hath sorrows!'

So he said, 'What of the sorrows of Gulrevaz? Tell me of them.'

But she said, 'Nay, O my betrothed! wouldst thou have this tongue
blistered, and a cons