" "By Allah," replied he,
"had I not woke up, they would have nailed me to a cross of
wood!" "Wherefore?" asked she; and he said, "Because of the lack
of pepper in the pomegranate-seed. Meseemed they demolished my
shop and broke my utensils in pieces and put me in a chest;
then they sent for a carpenter to make a cross and would have
crucified me thereon. But praised be God who caused all this to
happen to me in sleep and not on wake!" The Lady of Beauty
laughed and pressed him to her bosom, and he returned her
caresses; then he thought again and said, "By Allah, I cannot
help thinking it must have been a reality after all! Indeed I
know not what to think of it all." Then he lay down and passed
the night in a state of perplexity, saying now, "I was dreaming,"
and now, "I was awake," till the morning, when his uncle
Shemseddin entered and saluted him. When Bedreddin saw him, he
said to him, "By Allah, art thou not he who gave orders to bind
me and demolish my shop and would have nailed me on a cross,
and all because a mess of pomegranate-seed lacked pepper?" "O
my son," replied the Vizier, "know that the truth has appeared
and that which was hidden is divulged. Thou art my brother's
son, and I did all this with thee but that I might certify
myself that thou wast indeed he who lay with my daughter on her
wedding-night. I could not be sure of this, till I saw that thou
knewest the chamber and thy turban and clothes and purse and the
scrolls in thy handwriting and that of my brother, for I had
never seen thee and did not know thee; and I have brought thy
mother with me from Bassora.
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