and the flea with it, but she feigned not to mark the flea
and whipped harder. Then took she colour and coloured it saffron, and
laid over it gold-leaf, so that it glittered and was an enticing sight;
and the dish was of gold, crusted over with devices and patterns, and
heads of golden monsters, a ravishment of skill in him that executed it,
cumbrous with ornate golden workmanship; likewise there were places round
the dish for sticks of perfume and cups carved for the storing of
perfumed pellets, and into these Noorna put myrrh and ambergris and rich
incenses, aloes, sandalwood, prepared essences, divers keen and sweet
scents. Then when all was in readiness, she put the dish upon the knee of
Baba Mustapha, and awoke him from his babbling reverie with a shout, and
said, 'An instrument verily, O Baba Mustapha! and art thou a cat to shave
Shagpat with that tongue of thine?'

Now, he arose and made the sign of obedience and said, ''Tis well, O lady
of grace and bright wit! and now for the cap of Shiraz and the Persian
robe, and my twenty slaves and seven to follow me to the mansion of
Shagpat. I'll do: I'll act.'

So she motioned to a slave to bring the cap of Shiraz and the Persian
robe, and in these Baba Mustapha arrayed himself. Then called he for the
twenty-and-seven slaves, and they were ranged, some to go before, some to
follow him. And he was exalted, and made the cap of Shiraz nod in his
conceit, crying, 'Am I not leader in this complot? Wullahy! all bow to me
and acknowledge it.' Then, to check himself, he called out sternly to the
slaves, 'Ho ye! forward to the mansion of Shagpat; and pass at a slow
pace through the streets of the city--solemnly, gravely, as before a
potentate; then will the people inquire of ye, Who't is ye marshal, and
what mighty one? and ye will answer, He's from the court of Shiraz,
nothing less than a Vizier--bearing homage to Shagpat, even this dish of
pomegranate grain.'

So they said, 'To hear is to obey.'

Upon that he waved his hand and stalked majestically, and they descended
from the roof into the street, criers running in front to clear the way.
When Baba Mustapha was hidden from view by a corner of the street, Noorna
shrank in her white shoulders and laughed, and was like a flashing pearl
as she swayed and dimpled with laughter. And she cried, 'True are those
words of the poet, and I testify to them in the instance of Baba
Mustapha:

"With feathers of the cock, I'll fashion a