ing the Feast of
Bairam while he slept, and he immediately proceeded to discuss the
matter with his kinsmen.

All three brothers lived under one roof, each of the three had his own
special harem, and each of them possessed in their harems beauties far
surpassing what the angels Monkar and Nakir could promise them in the
next world. After the Feast of Bairam, when Mukhtar Bey had well plied
his brethren with good wine, he said to them, "Let us exchange
harems!"

Sulaiman Bey immediately gave his hand upon it; Vely Bey laughed at it
as a good idea at first, but afterwards drew back. The other two
worthies laughed uproariously at his simplicity, made fun of him, and
proceeded at once to transfer to each other their respective damsels,
and on the morrow and the following days aggravated Vely by extolling
before him the exchanged odalisks, each of them confiding to him what
novel attractions he had discovered in this or that bayadere. Thus
Sulaiman could not sufficiently extol the extraordinary brilliance of
the eyes of Mukhtar Bey's favorite damsel, while Mukhtar protested
that the languishing Jewish maiden he had got in exchange from
Sulaiman quivered in his arms like a dancing flame.

Vely laughed a good deal over the business, but still continued to
shake his head, confessing at last that the reason why he did not
exchange his harem was because it contained an Albanian damsel whom he
had neither purchased nor captured, but who had come to him of her own
accord, and whom he had promised long ago never to abandon, and her he
would not give for both their harems put together; nay, he said he
would not give her up for a whole world full of damsels. The two
brethren thereupon assured Vely that if he loved this particular
damsel so very much, he might exclude her from the others and keep her
for himself, and it need make no difference. Then Vely Bey also
acceded to this fraternal division of delights, and transferred his
harem also, with the exception of Xelianthe.

Mukhtar Bey had fixed the last night of the great Bairam feast for the
entertainment that was to rival Paradise, inviting his brethren and
the Prophet Muhammad himself, in order that he might learn from them
how to be happy, and might regulate heaven accordingly. To this end
they had a fourth divan added to their three, with its own
well-appointed table in front of it, and bade the attendant odalisks
be diligent in keeping the fourth goblet well filled, and do