ng the house, saw the slaves and slave-girls; whereat
she marvelled and said, "All this is of the Lamp; God continue it unto
my son!" Then, before she put off her veil, Alaeddin said to her, "O my
mother, this is thy time, ere the Sultan enter his palace [and withdraw]
to his harem. Take him what he seeketh, and that forthright, so he may
know that I can avail unto that which he requireth, ay, and more, and
that he was deluded by the Vizier; albeit he thought to baffle me, he
and his Vizier." Then he arose and opening the house-door, let out the
damsels and the slaves, pair by pair, each damsel with a slave by her
side, so that they filled the street. His mother forewent them and the
people of the quarter, when they saw that rare and magnificent
sight, stood looking and marvelling and gazing upon the faces of the
slave-girls and their grace and goodliness [and their apparel], for that
they were clad in clothes all inwoven with gold and studded with jewels;
nay, the least one's clothes of them were worth thousands. Moreover they
looked at the dishes [431] and saw flashing therefrom a radiance that
outshone the light of the sun, albeit each dish was covered with a
piece of brocade, gold-inwrought and studded eke with precious jewels.
Alaeddin's [432] mother fared on and the damsels and slaves followed
after her, in all fair ordinance and disposition, whilst the folk stood
to gaze on the beauty of the slave-girls and extolled the perfection of
the Almighty Creator, till she reached the palace and entered it with
them.

When the eunuchs and chamberlains and captains of the guard saw them,
wonder took them and they were breathless for amaze at this sight, the
like whereof they had never in their lives seen, and especially at the
slave girls, each one of whom would ravish the wit of an anchorite.
Withal, the chamberlains and captains of the Sultan's guards were all
of them sons of grandees and Amirs; and they marvelled yet more at the
damsels' costly raiment and the dishes which they bore on their heads
and on which they might not open their eyes, [433] for the excess of
their flashing and radiance. Then the guards [434] entered and told the
Sultan, who bade bring them before him forthright into the Divan.
So Alaeddin's mother entered with them and when they came before the
Sultan, they all did obeisance to him with the utmost courtliness and
gravity and invoked on him glory and prosperity; then, raising the
dishes from their