Now I had seen how her sisters dealt
with her and felt bound to avenge her on them. At first, I was
minded to kill them, but I feared it would be grievous to her, so
I turned them into bitches; and now, O Commander of the Faithful,
if thou wouldst have me release them, I will do so, out of
respect to thee and to her, for I am of the true believers.'
'Release them,' said the Khalif; 'and after we will proceed to
look into the affair of the beaten lady, and if her account prove
true, we will avenge her on him who wronged her.' 'O Commander of
the Faithful,' replied she, 'I will release them forthwith and
bring thee to the knowledge of him who maltreated this lady and
took her property; and he is the nearest of all men to thee.' So
saying, she took a cup of water and muttered over it and spoke
words that might not be understood. Then she threw some of the
water in the faces of the bitches, saying, 'Return to your former
human shape;' whereupon they were restored to their original
form, and the Afriteh said to the Khalif, 'O Commander of the
Faithful, he who beat this lady is thy son El Amin, brother of El
Mamoun[FN#58], who heard of her beauty and grace and laid a trap
for her and married her; and indeed he is not to blame for
beating her, for he laid a condition on her and took of her a
solemn oath that she would not do a certain thing; but she was
false to her vow; and he was minded to kill her, but was
restrained by the fear of God the Most High and contented himself
with beating her, as thou hast seen, and sending her back to her
own place.
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