" said Ashimullah.

"My treasury is open to the most faithful of my servants," said the
Sultan.

"A multitude of women in a house breeds strife," urged Ashimullah.

"He who governs an empire should be able to govern his own house,"
remarked the Sultan.

"I have no pleasure in the society of women," pleaded Ashimullah.

"It is not a question of pleasure," said the Sultan solemnly, and
Ashimullah thought that he saw signs of suspicion on his master's
august face. Therefore he prostrated himself, crying that he submitted
to the imperial will, and would straightway take another wife.

"I do not love a grudging obedience," said the Sultan.

"I will take two!" cried Ashimullah.

"Take three," said the Sultan; and with this he dismissed Ashimullah,
giving him the space of a week in which to fulfill the command laid
upon him.

"Surely I am a most unhappy man," mused Ashimullah. "For if I do not
obey, I shall be put to death; and if I do obey, I fear greatly that I
shall be damned." And he went home looking so sorrowful and perplexed
that all men conceived that he was out of favor with the Sultan.

Now Ashimullah, being come to his house, went immediately to his wife,
and told her of the Sultan's commands, adding that the matter was a
sore grief to him, and not less on her account than on his own. "For
you know well, Star of my Heart," said he, "that I desire no wife but
you!"

"I know it well, Ashimullah," answered Lallakalla tenderly.

"Moreover, I fear that I shall be damned," whispered Ashimullah.

"I'm sure you would," said Lallakalla.

Three days later it was reported through all the city, on the authority
of Hassan, the chief and confidential servant of the Vizier, that
Ashimullah, having procured three slaves of great beauty at an immense
cost, had wedded them all, and thus completed the number of wives
allowed to him by the Law of the Prophet. The first was rosy-cheeked
with golden hair; the second's complexion was olive, and her locks
black as night; the third had a wonderful pallor, and tresses like
burnished gold.

"Thus," added Hassan, "since my lady Lallakalla's hair is brown, his
Highness the Vizier enjoys, as is his most just due, all varieties of
beauty."

When these things came to the ears of the Sultan, he was greatly
pleased with the prompt obedience of Ashimullah, and sent him a large
sum of money and his own miniature, magnificently set in diamonds.
Moreover, he approved highly of