to the palace with so much expedition that
the caliph was much pleased.

When the ladies had arrived the caliph turned toward them and said, "I
was last night in your house, disguised in a merchant's habit; but I
am at present Haroun al Raschid, the fifth caliph of the glorious
house of Abbas, and hold the place of our great prophet. I have sent
for you only to know who you are, and to ask for what reason one of
you, after severely whipping the two black dogs, wept with them. And I
am no less curious to know why another of you has her bosom so full of
scars."

Upon hearing these words, Zobeide thus related her story:

THE STORY OF ZOBEIDE

Commander of the Faithful, my story is truly wonderful. The two black
dogs and myself are sisters by the same father and mother. The two
ladies who are now here are also my sisters, but by another mother.
After our father's death, the property that he left was equally
divided among us. My two half sisters left me, that they might live
with their mother. My two sisters and myself resided with our own
mother. At her death she left us three thousand sequins each. Shortly
after my sisters had received their portions, they married; but their
husbands, having spent all their fortunes, found some pretext for
divorcing them, and put them away. I received them into my house, and
gave them[27] a share of all my goods. At the end of a twelvemonth my
sisters again resolved to marry, and did so. After some months were
passed, they returned again in the same sad condition; and as they
accused themselves a thousand times, I again forgave them, and
admitted them to live with me as before, and we dwelt together for the
space of a year. After this I determined to engage in a commercial
speculation. For this purpose I went with my two sisters to
Bussorah,[28] where I bought a ship ready fitted for sea, and laded
her with such merchandise[29] as I had carried with me from Bagdad. We
set sail with a fair wind, and soon cleared the Persian Gulf; when we
had reached the open sea we steered our course to the Indies, and on
the twentieth day saw land. It was a very high mountain, at the bottom
of which we perceived a great town; having a fresh gale, we soon
reached the harbor, and cast anchor.

[Footnote 27: "The giving of alms is commanded in the Koran. Hasan,
the son of Ali, grandson of Mohammed, is related to have thrice in his
life divided his substance equally between himself and the
poor."--Sal