ere it was set down, and, when his bride, closely veiled,
left it and entered the house, he, too, entered unperceived.

At the first door Dorani removed one veil; then she entered another
doorway at the end of a passage where she removed another veil; next
she mounted the stairs, and at the door of the women's quarters
removed a third veil. After this she proceeded to her own room where
were set two large basins, one of attar of roses and one of water; in
these she washed herself, and afterwards called for food. A servant
brought her a bowl of curds, which she ate hastily, and then arrayed
herself in a robe of silver, and wound about her strings of pearls,
while a wreath of roses crowned her hair. When fully dressed, she
seated herself upon a four-legged stool over which was a canopy with
silken curtains, these she drew around her, and then called out:

'Fly, stool, to the palace of rajah Indra.'

Instantly the stool rose in the air, and the invisible prince, who had
watched all these proceedings with great wonder, seized it by one leg
as it flew away, and found himself being borne through the air at a
rapid rate.

In a short while they arrived at the house of the fairy who, as I told
you before, was the favourite friend of Dorani. The fairy stood
waiting on the threshold, as beautifully dressed as Dorani herself
was, and when the stool stopped at her door she cried in astonishment:

'Why, the stool is flying all crooked to-day! What is the reason of
that, I wonder? I suspect that you have been talking to your husband,
and so it will not fly straight.'

But Dorani declared that she had not spoken one word to him, and she
couldn't think why the stool flew as if weighed down at one side. The
fairy still looked doubtful, but made no answer, and took her seat
beside Dorani, the prince again holding tightly one leg. Then the
stool flew on through the air until it came to the palace of Indra the
rajah.

All through the night the women sang and danced before the rajah
Indra, whilst a magic lute played of itself the most bewitching music;
till the prince, who sat watching it all, was quite entranced. Just
before dawn the rajah gave the signal to cease; and again the two
women seated themselves on the stool, and, with the prince clinging to
the leg, it flew back to earth, and bore Dorani and her husband safely
to the scent-seller's shop. Here the prince hurried away by himself
past Dorani's palanquin with its sleepy bear