So I saluted them, saying,
"I am a stranger;" to which they replied, "We also are strangers."
And, as it chanced, we were all Calenders and each blind of the
right eye. This, then, O my lady, is my story and the manner of
the shaving of my face and the loss of my eye.' Quoth the
mistress of the house, 'Begone about thy business.' But he said,
'By Allah, I will not go, till I hear the others' stories!' Then
she turned to the Khalif and his companions and said, 'Give me an
account of yourselves.' So Jaafer came forward and repeated the
story he had told the portress; whereupon the lady said, 'I
pardon you all: go your ways.' So they all went out; and when
they reached the street the Khalif said to the Calenders, 'O folk,
whither are you bound now, seeing that it is not yet day?' 'By
Allah, O my lord,' answered they, 'we know not where to go!'
'Then come and pass the rest of the night with us,' said the
Khalif, and turning to Jaafer, said to him, 'Take them home
with thee and to-morrow bring them before me, that we may cause
their adventures to be recorded.' Jaafer did as the Khalif
bade him, and the latter returned to his palace. Sleep did not
visit him that night, but he lay awake, pondering the adventures
of the three Calenders and full of impatience to know the history
of the two ladies and the black bitches; and no sooner had the
day dawned than he went out and sat down on his chair of estate.
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