from Aklis,
where she ferryeth a term. What's that saying:
"A woman's at the core of every plot man plotteth,
And like an ill-reared fruit, first at the core it rotteth."
So, out with it, thou Kadza!'
Now, the urgency of that she had dreamed overcame fear in Kadza, and she
said, 'O great Genie and terrible, my dream was this. Lo! I saw an
assemblage of the beasts of the forests and them that inhabit wild
places. And there was the elephant and the rhinoceros and the
hippopotamus, and the camel and the camelopard, and the serpent and the
striped tiger; also the antelope, the hyena, the jackal, and above them,
eminent in majesty, the lion. Surely, he sat as 'twere on a high seat,
and they like suppliants thronging the presence: this I saw, the heart on
my ribs beating for Shagpat. And there appeared among the beasts a monkey
all ajoint with tricks, jerking with malice, he looking as 'twere hungry
for the doing of things detestable; and the lion scorned him, and I
marked him ridicule the lion: 'twas so. And the lion began to scowl, and
the other beasts marked the displeasure of the lion. Then chased they
that monkey from the presence, and for awhile he was absent, and the lion
sat in his place gravely, with calm, receiving homage of the other
beasts; and down to his feet came the eagle that's lord of air, and
before him kneeled the great elephant, and the subtle serpent eyed him
with awe. But soon did that monkey, the wretched animal! reappear, and
there was no peace for the lion, he worrying till close within stretch of
the lion's paw! Wah! the lion might have crushed him, but that he's
magnanimous. And so it was that as the monkey advanced the lion roared to
him, "Begone!"
'And the monkey cried, "Who commandeth?"
'So the lion roared, "The King of beasts and thy King!"
'Then that monkey cried, "Homage to the King of beasts and my King! Allah
keep him in his seat, and I would he were visible."
'So the lion roared, "He sitteth here acknowledged, thou graceless
animal! and he's before thee apparent."
'Then the monkey affected eagerness, and gazed about him, and peered on
this beast and on that, exclaiming like one that's injured and under
slight, "What's this I've done, and wherein have I offended, that he
should be hidden from me when pointed out?"
'So the lion roared, "'Tis I where I sit, thou offensive monkey!"
'Then that monkey in the upper pitch of amazement, "Thou! Is it for
created thing to a
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