the storm-bird when it would surprise men." Do this, and
thy part's done, O Kadza!'

Thereupon he swung a circle, and alighted her behind the pole of awning
on the roof, and vanished, and the circle of flame rose up, and Kadza
passed through it slightly scorched, and answered to the question of
Noorna, 'O my mistress, let the storm gather-in the storm-bird when it
would surprise men.' Now, when Noorna beheld her, and heard her voice,
she pierced the disguise, and was ware of the wife of Shagpat, and
glanced her large eyes over Kadza from head to sole till they rested on
the loose loop in her girdle. Seeing that, she rose up, and stretched her
arms, and spread open the palm of her hand, and slapped Kadza on the
cheek and ear a hard slap, so that she heard bells; and ere she ceased to
hear them, another, so that Kadza staggered back and screamed, and
Feshnavat was moved to exclaim, 'What has the girl, thy favourite,
offended in, O my daughter?'

So Noorna continued slapping Kadza, and cried, 'Is she not sluttish? and
where's the point of decency established in her, this Luloo? Shall her
like appear before thee and me with loose girdle!'

Then she pointed to the girdle, and Kadza tightened the loose loop, and
fell upon the ground to avoid the slaps, and Noorna knelt by her, and
clutched at a portion of her dress and examined it, peering intently; and
she caught up another part, and knotted it as if to crush a living
creature, hunting over her, and grasping at her; and so it was that while
she tore strips from the garments of Kadza, Feshnavat jumped suddenly in
wrath, and pinched over his garments, crying, 'Tis unbearable! 'Tis I
know not what other than a flea that persecuteth me:'

Upon that, Noorna ran to him, and while they searched together for the
flea, Baba Mustapha fidgeted and worried in his seat, lurching to the
right and to the left, muttering curses; and it was evident he too was
persecuted, and there was no peace on the roof of that palace, but
pinching and howling and stretching of limbs, and curses snarled in the
throat and imprecations on the head of the tormenting flea. Surely, the
soul of Kadza rejoiced, for she knew the flea was Karaz, whom she had
brought with her in the loose loop of her girdle through the circle of
flame which was a barrier against him. She glistened at the triumph of
the flea, but Noorna strode to her, and took her to the side of the roof,
and pitched her down it, and closed the pa